


Evanescent

by WriteYourDarlings



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-06 07:44:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 68,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8740909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriteYourDarlings/pseuds/WriteYourDarlings
Summary: "Step into my case, I will not have you lose your memory."-Newt Scamander ends up staying longer than he planned in New York, meeting a girl he never planned on.Is he just being silly, or could this mean more?





	1. 1

“What do you mean I’m on the wrong boat?”

Newt was asking this question to the man who was taking his ticket. After examining it, the man had informed Newt that the boat he was supposed to get on departed an hour ago. He wasn’t sure how he managed to misread his ticket, but his boat had in fact left half an hour ago, without him on it. The boat he was trying to board was on route to Iceland.

“Do you happen to know when the next boat I can take to England is then?” Newt asked, hoping he would get a good answer. Preferably he was hoping it would be later that day, but he’s even settle if it was tomorrow.

“The next boat to England is in a weeks’ time, sir.”

 _A week?_ Newt exclaimed to himself in his head. He didn’t want to wait that long. He was already longing to get back home and start polishing up what was left to write of his book. Surely, it couldn’t be an entire week until the next boat comes, right? “Are you sure?” Newt began to ask. Usually he didn’t like to question people when he knew they had the right answers, but he just couldn’t accept the answer he got. “There aren’t any earlier boats?”

“No, sorry to disappoint sir. You can try to go to the office and exchange your ticket for the next one, I’m sure they would understand.”

 _No,_ he thought. _I wanted to get on that boat._ He sighed, giving in to his circumstance. “Alright,” he said, sounding exasperated. “Thank you anyways.”

“No problem.” The man tipped his hat as Newt walked away from him. The cold December air had a chill running down his arms, and he wrapped himself tighter in his coat as he walked into the office, refunding his now useless ticket and getting himself a new one.

Newt sat himself down on a bench, beginning to think of where he should go. He thought he could go back to Porpentina’s and Queenie’s place, but then again, he didn’t want to disturb them. The two girls deserved a rest after everything that happened this week. The chilly air spread to his neck, and he popped up his collar and reached for his case to get out his scarf…

… and that’s when he noticed that it had been popped open. _Again._

There was a gap just wide enough for his _favorite_ escape artist to fit through.

He sighed and looked up and around, just in time to see his Niffler running around the corner, trying to get away from him to find something shiny.

 _No, no, no!_ Newt thought, getting up. The shut his case all the way and made sure it latched before he began to run after his Niffler, who always had a habit of escaping. It seemed anytime it saw an opportunity where Newt wasn’t paying much attention, he’d find his way out of the case and run away, which usually ended in a drawn-out chase.

This time was no exception.

The Niffler made its way into a revolving door, allowing it to get into an apartment building that was a decent distance away from the dock. Newt ran in after it, first getting dizzy from one too many rounds in the revolving door before making it to the other side. When he regained stable vision, he watched as he saw a tail disappear up the stairs.

 _Oh, no you don’t,_ Newt thought, beginning to chase it up the stairs. The Niffler always kept the same distance in front of him, and after a couple of flights, it caught him off guard as it turned the corner, heading into what Newt guessed to be someone’s apartment.

Well, he was never one to stop there anyways.

Looking around to see if anybody was coming, Newt slipped into the apartment. As soon as he entered, he heard loud banging noises coming from another room. Following the noises, he found himself in a bathroom, where he saw his Niffler stuffing earrings into his pouch. “Got you!” Newt shouted, but he spoke too soon, because as he lunged for him, the Niffler avoided him by inches and walked over him, making it to the first escape: the bathroom window.

As the Niffler began to make its grand escape out the window, Newt managed to be just as fast this time, and he was half hanging out the window when he finally grabbed the Niffler by his tail. “Aha!” Newt shouted, happy he finally caught him.

Then something not as pleasant happened.

Newt felt his torso begin to slip as he sank further out the window. As fast as his reflexes would allow, he hid the Niffler in his coat as he whipped around and grabbed the windowsill. This all seemed to happen within seconds, but he still wasn’t fast enough, and the next thing he knew he was hanging by his fingers from the window.

_Well, this certainly isn’t how I imagined this day going._

With all the body strength he could muster, Newt tried to pull himself up. His efforts, however, were futile. He couldn’t get enough strength to pull himself back up. _This is why I should get that case fixed,_ Newt thought to himself, shaking his head. The only beast he ever let out of the case was Pickett, his Bowtruckle, but Pickett never left his side. Pickett was on him now, inside his coat sleeve, trying to stay warm in cold. Newt wished he could do the same. His fingers got colder, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hang on to the window. He tried, once again, to lift himself up from the window, thinking maybe if he could just get half of his arm in the window, he could pull himself the rest of the way up from there-

That’s the exact moment he heard a screech.

The owner of the home was back, and she didn’t expect to see a pair of hands on her windowsill when she went to go to the bathroom.


	2. 2

As soon as the woman’s screech hit Newt’s ears, a spark of hope sent shivers down his spine. Just as he was about to fall off the edge of the windowsill, someone had come home. He couldn’t believe his luck. Then he thought about what this situation probably looked like. Right as he began to try to think up a way to explain what he would be doing hanging out of this woman’s window, a head poked out of the window.

“Who are you and what are you doing?”

As soon ask Newt heard the question, he knew he wouldn’t have any time to respond. His fingers, as they got colder, lost more and more grip. In a panic, he just responded, “I’ll explain everything later, for now, could you help me back up?”

The woman stared at him for a moment, seeming to contemplate her options. Mostly, she just really didn’t know what to do. Of course, she _was_ going to help him, but so many thoughts clogged up her head, her movements were delayed. What was this man doing hanging from her windowsill? How did he get into her apartment? What were his intentions?

As she saw his fingers begin to slip, all her thoughts cleared out of her head at once, and she reached for his hands. With a loud gasp, she couldn’t believe her luck as she grabbed his hands right as he lost traction with her window. His hands felt like ice, cold to the point she almost let go to warm her own up again. Resisting what was her reflex, she began to pull up, which didn’t seem to be helping, she wasn’t as strong as she’d like to think she was.

In the meantime, Newt seemed to be dazed and distracted. He knew this defiantly wasn’t the time or place to be thinking about this, but this woman had such pretty eyes. He thought, in a short burst, that she was very beautiful, and if they had met differently, he might have made an attempt to at _least_ talk to her.

But maybe he shouldn’t be thinking about that when he was clinging onto her window ledge for his life.

The woman looked down at him in all her struggling, and she noticed he wasn’t very aware of what was happening. _He isn’t going into some kind of cold shock, is he?_ She thought to herself, worried. “Hey, you!” she began to yell out. She wished she had his name so she didn’t just have to call him ‘you,’ but right now wasn’t the time to ask for names. “Are you okay? I need your help here, pull up the best you can!”

Newt snapped back into reality, back into the situation, back into clinging onto her hands for his life. _Her hands are so warm,_ he thought to himself. They also seemed to be remarkably soft, to the point it was almost hard to keep a grip on her. “Hm?” He hummed in response, hearing what she said, but taking a moment to process it. “Oh, yeah, I’ll try!” he shouted back to her.

Using what body strength he had left, he began to lift himself up slowly. He kind of wished he was a little stronger, but slowly, the two of them began to get Newt back into the apartment, no longer being suspended in the window. Once his entire upper body was in the apartment, she let go and Newt managed to get himself the rest of the way into the apartment.

They both caught their breath for a moment, still processing what happened. Newt was glad to be back in a decently warm apartment while she was still processing the fact she just pulled someone in through her bathroom window. As soon as she snapped back into her senses, she turned to the man who she just had to pull in through her window.

“Who are you?” she asked, looking him over. “And what are you doing in my apartment?”

Newt stood there for a moment, staring at the woman and then turning away, doing his usual of not making very clear eye contact. He began to contemplate his options. Yes, he could always tell her the truth, but since she was a Muggle (or a no-maj as they seemed to call them in the states), he would have to erase her memory anyways. There was no point on that. He could also just lie, which seemed like the reasonable option, except he didn’t want to have to worry about him going to jail later.

So, he decided on neither option and went for something completely different.

He decided to run.

Breaking into a quick sprint, he grabbed his suitcase, which he had left on the bathroom counter, and ran as fast as his (nearly still numb from the cold) legs would carry him. He thought he heard a faint “Wait!” coming from the woman, but he didn’t bother to turn around and check.

He was out of there in seconds. He dashed down the stairs, not knowing if the mysterious woman was following him or not, and too worried to check. Running away automatically made him look way guiltier than he really was, and he didn’t want to take any chances.

Once he was out of the revolving door, he stopped for a moment to catch his breath – the second time he had to do so in the span of five minutes. He went to the side of the building and leaned against it, making sure he was pout of the view of any Muggles before he opened his jacket and pulled his Niffler out. He looked into the eyes of him. “The things I go through for you,” Newt sighed, opening his suitcase and putting him in. As the cold began to set in again, Newt shivered and closed his jacket. _I should put Pickett in my case,_ he thought to himself. _It’s cold out, and it would be a lot better for him._

Newt reached up his sleeve, expecting to feel his fingers reach the little Bowtruckle, but to his surprise, they didn’t. So, he reached up his other sleeve.

Still no Pickett.

Panic began to set in. _Where could he have gone?_ Newt thought, but then, suddenly a thought hit him like a memory.

_Pickett must have crawled up that woman’s sleeve for better warmth._

Newt couldn’t believe it. Pickett usually never left his side, but under the circumstances, it made a little sense. Imagining Pickett alone with the Muggle, who probably didn’t even notice him, scared him a little. He always had abandonment issues, even when he thought Newt was really going to give him away, he didn’t leave his side for too long in a fit before eventually returning.

Newt had to go back.


	3. 3

Newt began to climb the stairs, unsure what he would tell the woman. _Sorry I ran away earlier, I wasn’t doing anything bad in your house, just chasing…_

Chasing a what? How could he explain anything without telling her about his magical creature.

Newt shook his head. Some people may have thought he was going through more trouble than it was worth, avoiding all of these things just so he wouldn’t have to obliviate her, but it was sort of like something more. _He_ broke into _her_ house, he didn’t want to obliviate her for something that wasn’t her fault. Maybe that was a funny thought to other people, but in his own mind, it made a lot of sense. He was always a little flimsy when it came to obliviating people, sometimes forgetting to do it entirely, but he had good reasons.

Good reasons the ministry never really wanted to hear.

He was just glad the rules back home pertaining to Muggles were a lot slacker than the rules here pertaining to no-majs. Unfortunately, though, he wasn’t in Britain, so he couldn’t just do as he usually did.

How he wished he could though.

Finally, Newt got to what he recognized to be the woman’s apartment. He wondered if anyone else lived there, it was quite unusual for a girl on her own to be renting out such a place. It wasn’t run down, it was a rather decent apartment. Shaking those thoughts from his head, Newt sheepishly put his hand over the door and knocked.

The woman answered the door a few seconds later, staring at Newt, making immediate eye contact. Newt, once again, got distracted by her eye’s soft color, and how they seemed to shine. Did all eyes shine so nicely? He couldn’t remember, or think about it for long. He could spend quite some time just standing there, looking into her eyes, but under the circumstances he couldn’t keep eye contact for long. Her expression seemed so helpless, and it made him feel a bit guilty. Neither of them spoke for a while, then Newt finally decided to pipe in.

“Sorry about earlier,” he began. “I guess it was instinct to run out so suddenly like that.” He looked up once again to make brief eye contact with her, and this time, her eyes seemed more forgiving. Less helpless, more understanding, but her expression still seemed confused. He didn’t blame her though, he would be confused to if he helped someone who might have just broken into his apartment and they ran away without a word.

“It’s… fine I suppose,” she finally replied, still looking at him. It was almost as if she was trying to place him. She knew she’d never seen him before in her life, but his appearance still seemed to give her a warm aura, as if she’d known him before. As if she’d met him before. She hadn’t, she knew she hadn’t, but how else was she supposed to describe this warm feeling? _Maybe it’s just because he’s attractive,_ she began to think. _He’s very good looking, I’ve got to give him that._ “I still want answers,” she continued. “What were you doing in my house earlier?”

“I’ll explain everything, but first… may I please come in?” Newt asked softly. He put on as nice a voice as possible, not to trick her, but to be sincere towards her. It was almost as if he wanted to tell her everything, but he couldn’t. She moved aside and as Newt stepped in, his eyes immediately began to make a search for where Pickett could possibly be.

As the woman closed the door behind her, she turned around to face Newt. “So, start explaining,” she told him in a near demanding voice, though she tried not to be too harsh.

“Well, um, you see…” Newt began, trailing off as his eyes still glanced around the apartment, never really looking at her. That probably just made him look even sketchier, but frankly, he didn’t care. Where could Pickett be? He didn’t see any houseplants he could hide in, and there weren’t many places to hide she wouldn’t have already found him in. He sighed and looked at her, and that’s when he spotted Pickett.

He was hiding up her sleeve for warmth, just as Newt suspected. Just as he feared. How was he supposed to subtly get Pickett back now?

Just then, an idea popped into his head. _That would work, wouldn’t it?_ He thought to himself.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

“You see,” he began again, this time looking at her. Not making direct eye contact, but at least this time, he was looking at her face. She had quite a pretty face. _No time to be thinking about that,_ Newt shook his head. “My, erm, _pet_ got out and the little thing went right into your apartment. I promise I didn’t break anything, or take anything, but it tried to go out your bathroom window, and I went after it. Then I slipped trying to get back in and, well, you saw the rest…” Newt trailed off. That was close enough to the truth, wasn’t it?

“So my bathroom window just happened to be open wide enough for your… pet to go through?” she asked, looking at him.

“Precisely.”

“Why didn’t I see this pet on you when I pulled you back in?”

“He’s small enough to fit in my jacket, so I put him in there. Always better to keep him warm, you know?”

“I guess…” the woman mumbled to herself. His story seemed a bit farfetched, but she was willing to believe him. In fact, she _wanted_ to believe him. It’s not every day some handsome stranger breaks into your house. Stuff like that usually only happens in works of fiction.

Now it was time for Newt to try to go through with his plan. He held his hand out for her to shake. “Anyways, sorry about that, but I figured I might as well introduce myself to you. I’m Newt, Newt Scamander.”

“Oh, ______. ______ ______.” She told him, taking his hand and shaking it. His hands were still cold from earlier, very different from her warm hands. They almost seemed to absorb her warmth.

“______, that’s a pretty name,” Newt complimented her. He hoped this would serve as a distraction, and as he began to let go of her hand in just the slightest, he moved it up her sleeve.

This didn’t go unnoticed by ______. She felt his cold hand travel up her arm, and as a reflex, she pulled her arm back. She didn’t, however, account for the fact that as her reflex was to pull away, his seemed to be that he grasped onto her arm tightly. She pulled back quickly, and in the process, accidentally fell backwards. You’d think at this point, Newt would have let go.

Yet he didn’t.

This resulted in them both falling to the floor, Newt on top of ______, his chest pressing against her. _Everything went wrong all at once,_ Newt thought to himself in a burst, too shocked to move or realize the position they were in. He stared at her face, and she stared back into his eyes, her jaw slacked but not open, and Newt’s face had turned red without him knowing it. They both just laid there, unsure what to say to one another.

“I’m so sorry,” Newt managed to get out, trying to move, but for some reason his body wouldn’t comply. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, I-”

Newt’s sentence was cut off with a small yelp of surprise coming from the girl, who was staring at the arm Newt still had a hold on.

Pickett was now sticking his head out of her sleeve.


	4. 4

Newt got this sudden wave of feeling protective, one he got often when someone other than himself was around his beasts. He always had a fear that somebody would do something, he didn’t know what but somebody will do something. This situation was no exception.

Newt got up quickly, and as he did so, ______ did too. Pickett had resigned himself back into her sleeve, which now ______ was looking down, searching for the small creature. Newt always assumed the worst, so of course, his first reaction was to immediately start babbling on about Pickett.

“Please don’t do anything rash,” Newt began to plead, a desperate look in his eyes. “Pickett hasn’t done anything wrong, and it isn’t his intention to hurt you. He isn’t dangerous at all unless you try to forcefully try to take him away from his tree or something like that, which you haven’t, so he hasn’t got anything against you.”

“Pickett?” Was all she could seem to manage to say, reaching down her sleeve and pulling out the Bowtruckle in question.

“Yeah, that’s his name, and he’s really nice. I’m sure he didn’t mean to crawl into your clothes, please don’t get mad at him and try to do anything. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Pickett?” ______ asked again, this time, not directed towards Newt. It seemed this time, the question was directed towards the Bowtruckle itself. Despite everything that was happening around him, he didn’t seem to show any signs of fear or shock, and instead met eyes with ______ while she talked to him.

“He’s one of my magical creatures,” Newt told her in a small voice. He was still watching her every move like a hawk, and his hand hovered over his pocket where his wand was. He didn’t want to, but if he had to, he would cast a spell on her if she tried to do anything strange to Pickett. While Pickett had attachment issues, Newt had protective issues. He was very much like a parent to his creatures, and he wouldn’t let anyone or anything hurt them.

______ didn’t seem to hear his comment about magic, or if she did, she didn’t mention it, and she wasn’t off put by it. She just kept making eye contact with Pickett, her shining eyes Newt admired so much looking into the creatures small, beady ones. A small smile spread across her lips the more she looked at him, and finally, she said something.

“Is it okay to say that Pickett is absolutely adorable?” ______ asked this with sincerity in her voice. There were no traces of fear, no hints of bad intentions. She was just looking into Pickett’s eyes, genuinely thinking that he was one of the cutest creatures she had ever seen, whatever he was. What was he anyways? Was this the supposed pet that Newt had been talking about earlier? It would make sense, after all. He came back for it, and seemed to want to protect it so much. She wasn’t sure what he was afraid of, who would want to hurt something as cute as this?

Newt stared at her for a moment. “You really think he’s cute?” He asked, genuinely surprised. Not many people liked Bowtruckles the way he did, after all, they weren’t exactly easy to warm up to. They could be tamed though, you just had to know how. It wasn’t very hard at all – they were only ranked ‘XX’ by the Ministry of Magic.

“I do. He’s so small, and he kind of reminds me of a leaf-bug,” she told Newt. She didn’t know if what she was saying sounded ridiculous, to some people it might. She was calling this 8-inch magical creature adorable. Wand makers usually just saw them as pests, always providing a hassle to try to get the good wood from wand trees. Yet she thought he was cute. “You said his name was Pickett?”

“Yeah, it’s just a little nickname I have for him,” he told her, a small subconscious smile creeping up on his lips. Was there really such a thing as Muggles liking magical creatures?

She looked back into the eyes of the Bowtruckle. “Hello Pickett,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m ______. I hope we can get along.” She tore her eyes away from Pickett’s beady eyes and looked into Newt’s bright blue ones. “So, I hope this isn’t worded rudely, but what exactly is Pickett?”

 _Oh boy,_ Newt began to think. That was the question he had been dreading. He thought for a moment. _What was it Pickett reminded her of? A leaf bug?_ “He’s, uh, a rare species of insect.”

“Insect?” She asked, this time with some confusion. “He seems very intelligent for an insect.”

“Intelligent?” Newt asked. “How can you tell?”

______ looked down for a moment, thinking she might sound silly. “Well, erm, it’s just this feeling I got. Like he understood me more when I was talking to him. I don’t know, does that sound weird?”

“Not at all!” Newt assured her, maybe too quickly. He could relate to the girl’s feeling. When it came to magical creatures, he felt like he could talk to them more than people. Like they understood each other better. His thoughts matched what this girl was saying, and he used to be teased for thinking such things. He grew up around fancy Hippogriffs, so he always had a stronger connection to magical creatures. Even when he went to Hogwarts. “It doesn’t sound weird to me, I understand what you mean. That’s why I keep so many, um, _pets_ around,” Newt told her.

“’So many?’ So this isn’t the pet you broke into my apartment chasing?”

“No,” Newt told her honestly. “That was a different one.” Newt stared at Pickett for a while, who was resting on the back of her hand, seeming as comfortable with her as he was with him. People might think it would make him jealous, one of his beasts warming up to a Muggle as much as they warmed up to him, but it was the opposite. It made him happy, almost even euphoric. It proved his point even further that they weren’t dangerous. If a Muggle could understand Pickett so well, wizards should be able to too, right?

He almost was hesitant when it came to the point where he had to take Pickett back. Pickett had some serious attachment issues, he didn’t want to see him upset from being taken away from what he was guessing was his new friend. It had to be done, though. _At least I don’t have to obliviate her,_ Newt thought. _She doesn’t know anything. She’s safe._

“I think I overstayed my welcome,” Newt began, getting closer to her and offering a handshake, for real this time. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Thank you for letting me meet Pickett. I imagined you were worried about him, I’m surprised you didn’t just take him back on the spot. It was a pleasure, Mister Scamander.” ______ replied, taking his hand in hers and shaking it. Once again, Newt thought her hands had to be the softest ones he’s ever shaken. _They must be even better to hold,_ he caught himself thinking, but then shook his head, almost getting himself flustered by his own thoughts.

“Well, he seemed to be happy with you, ______.” Newt told her. He let go of her hand and looked at Pickett, who still attached himself onto ______’s sleeve, slightly sticking out of her cuff. Newt reached his hand out to him. “Come on Pickett,” Newt said. “It’s time to go.”

Pickett didn’t react in the way Newt ever expected him to.


	5. 5

Newt knew better than anyone that the Bowtruckle, when threatened, was known to attack its offender with its long, sharp fingers. However, that was only when it was protecting its tree, and only to strangers looking to steal from them.

He never thought it would happen to him.

When Newt attempted to take Pickett (mind you – _gently_ ) off of ______, he was met with Pickett's fingers scratching him all the way down his arm. Of course, his first reaction was to let out a small yell and pull his arm back, clutching onto it. Pickett had managed to reach his fingers under Newt's coat and scratch him, and Newt could already feel himself bleeding.

______ put her hand over her mouth in surprise, not wanting to make any sound that might make the situation seem worse. Meanwhile, Pickett just crawled his way back up ______'s sleeve, going back to where he was comfortable. For a moment, she didn't know what to say, before she finally chirped in with, "Are you alright? Does that usually happen?"

Newt shook his head, beginning to take his jacket off and roll up his sleeve so he could better see the wound. "No, Pickett's usually very calm, I don't know what possibly could've gotten into him." Looking at the scratch, it definitely was going to leave a scar. Picket managed to make three defined cuts horizontally across his arm, and they were already starting to ooze blood.

______, not wanting to just stand there uselessly, told Newt, "I'm going to go get some bandages, hold on!" With that, she ran off into the bathroom, disappearing to find something, _anything,_ that might stop the bleeding.

She threw open the bathroom cabinet, pushing past her stack of towels and looking at her emergency medical supplies. That god she had it – she wouldn't know what to do without it. She grabbed the bandages, no use measuring it now, so she grabbed the scissors too. _What else would he need?_ She thought to herself in a burst. She felt like she was in a hurry, she didn't want to keep him waiting, and she felt guilty. Like it was her fault. Why did that little creature like her so much anyways? Pickett was Newt's creature – he had no reason to be attached to her. Was it just because she happened to be warmer now? Heat attracted certain types of bugs – that much she knew. Pickett could just be clinging onto her body heat.

She was curious, what kind of creature was Pickett anyways? Newt told her some variation of leaf-bug, but she's never heard of one growing to eight inches tall. At least, that's what Pickett looked like he was.

______ shook her head. _This isn't the time to start wandering into your thoughts,_ she thought to herself. She grabbed the gauze, the last thing she suspected she needed, and headed out of the bathroom.

"Mister Scamander! I got you bandages, you should get into the kitchen so you can run your arm under-"

She stopped midsentence as she walked back into the room she had left Newt in.

He wasn't in there anymore, he just seemed to have disappeared.

"Mister Scamander?" ______ called out. She looked around for a moment, wandering around the room. She thought for a moment. She didn't hear any doors, right? He couldn't have left. Plus, he seemed keen on getting Pickett back, and Pickett was still up her sleeve.

She wandered around the room for a moment before she felt herself kick something slightly at her feet. Her first reaction was to step away quickly and look down, what she was... strange.

There was a suitcase that was wide open, on the floor, and the more she looked at it, the more she got curious. The strange thing was that it seemed to be... shadows. Like it was bigger than it appeared.

But that wasn't possible, was it?

______ got on her knees, looking into the shadowed suitcase. "Mister Scamander?" she called out.

No reply.

Slowly, curiosity getting the best of her, she hovered a hand above the suitcase. _There's no harm it can do, right?_ She assured herself. With that, she reached into the case.

She didn't know what she was excepting, but when she couldn't feel a bottom and her arm was halfway in the case, she pulled it out stared at the case.

_What was this?_

She didn't notice that a small smile was creeping onto her face. _Newt must be in here,_ she thought to herself. Where else could he have gone? It was a weird thought to think that somebody just crawled into a case and disappeared but...

Stranger things happen every day.

______ steadily put one foot into the case, feeling around for something for it to stand on. Finally, she felt what was like the step of a ladder, and moving slowly, she began to decent down into the small, strange case. _The small strange case that belonged to the tall, handsome man._

Once she got inside, before she even reached the ground, her eyes began to marvel at everything she saw in the room. There were bookshelves, empty medicine viles, _full_ medicine viles, and much more she couldn't even begin to describe. The room was filled with a warm, orange light, like you would get from a candle. The entire place seemed very... homey.

After climbing down the ladder-like wooden pole, she turned around to see Newt's back, who didn't notice her come in. _I didn't think I was that quiet,_ she thought. She opened her mouth to say something, but at first, nothing came out. She just stood there, observing him. He was rubbing a washcloth down his arm, one that was now stained red, and as he put it aside, he began to open a container ad slather something on his arm. While Newt was rubbing it in, ______ decided to speak up.

"Mister Scamander?"


	6. 6

As soon as Newt heard the sound of ______’s voice behind him, he whipped around fast and stared at her. He figured she would follow him in, but was shocked him is that he hadn’t noticed. Usually he could tell when somebody else was in there with him, their aura always changed the feeling of the room. It was different for every person. Jacob had a heavy, yet accepting aura, Queenie had a light, care-free aura, Porpentina had a sort of strange, mixed, forgiving aura, and ______...

Well, he couldn’t begin to describe her. All he knew is that she seemed to blend right into the place, like this is where she was meant to be. Like this was her second home.

Exactly how he felt when he was in here.

She stood there, looking around the room, awe clear on her face. Newt wanted to just stand there and observe her for in this moment, with this look in her eyes. She was beaming, happiness lighting up the eyes he always had admired, and a smile was plastered onto her face. She had such a lovely smile, a smile that was only subconscious, as if it had snuck up on her. She was standing there, medical supplies in her hand, and although she had called out his name, he wasn’t sure if she knew he was in the same room as her. “______?” he called her name out.

“Oh, sorry,” she responded, tearing her eyes away from the room and looking at him. _If she’s fascinated with this room alone,_ Newt began to think, _I wonder what she’d think of the rest of the case._ She held out bandages. “I brought these. I mean, it looks like you’ve already got everything sorted out…” she trailed off, gesturing to his arm.

“I could use some bandages,” Newt told her with a small smile. As she smiled back, Newt let his eyes wander away from hers. He was never the best at keeping eye contact, but he was getting better. While he was never the best at eye contact, he did his best to at least focus on _one_ part of the face. He would glance off and look at people’s ears, their noses, their hair, their chins… for ______ he always seemed to focus on her lips if he wasn’t looking her in the eyes. He wasn’t sure why, but he always drifted from her eyes to her lips, his eyes only staying in one place for so long. While the entire physiology of her face was appealing, it was always lips and eyes he would stare at. She didn’t seem to notice.

“Excellent,” she said, putting everything else she had brought down on one step of the ladder. “I can wrap it up for you,” she offered, drawing near to him. “It would be easier than you having to wrap your own with only one hand.”

“Alright,” Newt replied in a soft voice. Granting her permission, he held his arm out towards her as she drew near to him. She unraveled the bandages, wrapping them up and down his forearm. Newt winced a bit whenever the bandage would brush up against his scratch. This didn’t go unnoticed by ______.

“Sorry,” she impulsively apologized. “Does it sting?”

“Just a little,” he replied, smiling slightly, glancing from his arm, up to her, making brief eye contact, then back down to his arm.

______ finished wrapping up the rest of his arm, cutting the bandage and tying it just tight enough so it wouldn’t slip. “There we go,” she smiled, putting down the bandages and scissors. She bit her lip for a second before taking a chance with a question that had been floating its way around her mind. “Is Pickett _really_ a rare kind of insect?”

Newt paused for only a second, but in that second, so much crossed his mind. _Should I tell her?_ was the question at hand. The way he saw it, what else would he do? Pickett didn’t seem like he was leaving her side anytime soon, he already tried to get him back, and _that_ turned out well. Besides, she’s seen the inside of his case now, and she seemed so well adjusted to herself. She wasn’t questioning magic, just him. She understood so well. It almost made him think she might have seen magic before, but of course she hadn’t. With America and their backwards laws against “no-majs,” even if she had seen magic, she wouldn’t remember it. She would’ve been obliviated on the spot. Right here, right now, he couldn’t think of one good reason to not tell her the truth.

“No,” he admitted. “He’s what we, erm, _I_ call a Bowtruckle. It’s a kind of… _magical_ creature. They protect the trees they live on from wizards who take their wood from wands. When wizards try to take wood without using the proper technique, they end up with an arm that looks like mine.”

“ _Magical creature?”_ ______ replied, another gleam in her eyes Newt couldn’t help but admire. “I knew it! Well, not the magical creature part, but I suspected the magic part! After all, what could explain all this?”

Newt smiled, and when she looked into his eyes, he dropped his eyes back to her lips, continuing on. “Magic,” he said with a shrug, a small smile unknowingly still on his face. “You’re not afraid?”

“Why would I be frightened?” ______ asked, wonder still in her voice. She brushed off the idea of being scared so quickly, she was nowhere near scared. She was euphoric, like someone who just got let on the biggest secret in the world.

In a way, she had.

______ made a sudden realization. She gasped suddenly, and Newt gave her a confused look. She looked at him, happiness so clear in her eyes. Those beautiful, shining eyes. “Does that mean you’re a wizard, Mister Scamander?” she asked, her hands covering her mouth a little, staring at him excitedly for an answer.

Newt nodded. “That I am,” he told her, watching her eyes for a response. Everything she did intrigued her, and the more time he spent around her, the more he wanted to stay with her. Maybe he wouldn’t admit it, but he was glad Pickett was up her sleeve and refusing to let go of her. It gave him a reason to stay, it gave him a reason not to obliviate her…

It gave him a reason to tell her everything.

“Would you like to meet some other magical creatures?” He asked her, rolling down his sleeve carefully over the bandage. “I do believe it’s about feeding time, and I’d appreciate some help.”

“You have _more_ creatures?” ______ asked excitedly. She felt like if she jumped, she would just float. The very idea of there being magic was enough to excite her, the feeling of getting to see even more magical creatures made her euphoric. Like she was on a completely different plane of existence.

“Of course I do,” Newt told her. “I don’t have an endless suitcase just to have one room.”

______ smiled brightly. A smile that brought a similar one onto Newt’s lips. “I’d love to see more magical creatures.”

Newt turned to the door and opened it, and was almost like he was opening the door to more. To a secret, an existence, a race, _an entire life._ Letting someone in there meant so much more than just meeting his beasts, he was letting them into a life. He turned around and grabbed a bucket, half-full with raw meat from the last time he cut some up. He looked over at ______.

“Coming?”


	7. 7

______ followed Newt in, gasping as soon as she laid eyes upon what was beyond the door.

There were all sorts of creatures just in her view right now. There were two creatures (who kind of looked like large beetles) pushing things around, something flying past her head, and a little out of her point of view, she thought she saw a nest of some sort. Even though she was only seeing what was possibly the smallest portion of the case, her eyes widened, trying to soak it all in like she would never see it again. In a small portion, she thought she might not. Why was she being shown all this? Was she allowed to see all this? Largely, what was happening? It was like it all happened so fast that she had no idea where she was or what was happening.

All she knew is that it made her happy.

Newt looked over at ______ and smiled. She seemed so interested in everything, looking all around her like she was running out of time. Like she had to take it all in, right then, right there. “It’s not going anywhere,” he found himself saying without thinking about it.

“What?” ______ asked, turning and looking at Newt.

“Oh, uh…” Newt trailed off, not really knowing why he said anything at all. He let his eyes fall down from hers, though subconsciously he wanted to keep looking into them, and looked at her lips again. “You just seemed to be very invested in staring at everything. Don’t hurt yourself staring too hard,” he tried to joke lightly.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” ______ told him. “I’ve just… I’ve never seen anything like this. Wow, just _wow.”_

“Ah, well, you certainly act better than some Muggles to do magic.”

“Muggles?”

“Muggles,” Newt began to explain. “Non-wizards. That’s what we call them, at least in Britain.”

“Oh,” ______ said. She turned away from Newt and back to the scenery before her. She couldn’t help but notice what looked like an empty dessert habitat. It was set up so nicely, as if it expecting something, or like something had been there before. “I hope you don’t mind my asking,” she began. “But what’s that empty habitat for?”

Newt followed where her eyes led to and saw where Frank, his Thunderbird, once was. “That was for a very special beast,” he told her, looking at the habitat with a small, slightly sad, smile forming on his face. “He was the reason I came here, to America. I was setting him free, back to Arizona where he belonged. I found him chained up in another country.”

______ looked at Newt, recognizing the look on his face. “Do you miss him?” she asked suddenly.

“Of course I miss him,” Newt said after a moment, answering it like it was the easiest question on the Earth. To him, it was. He held all of his beasts close to him, and if even one disappeared, he would be devastated. He knew he had to release Frank eventually, and he knew he would be happier, so it helped him be at ease a little more about him leaving. If he lost anyone else though, one that might not be able to take care of itself, or one that might be in danger, he wouldn’t dream of ever releasing them. That’s why he couldn’t leave ______. Pickett seemed very attached to her. He couldn’t just leave the Bowtruckle with her and be on his merry way. It had nothing to do with ______, and everything to do with Pickett. He feared for him. If Pickett were to ever get lost, get separated from ______, or get stolen, he could get involved in some kind of illegal beast trade. It wasn’t uncommon, and Bowtruckles were popular for their ability to pick locks. No way would he ever risk that, not for Pickett. Pickett was his secret favorite. So he had to stay with ______, for Pickett. Just until he could get him off of her.

Why was he so attached to her anyways?

Newt snapped out of his thoughts and back into his situation. “He’s a lot happier now though, I know he is. He’s free, and he’s where he’s meant to be.”

The pause Newt took didn’t worry ______. She had been watching his face the entire time. It wasn’t a sad silence, and though he showed traces of sadness, he wasn’t too sad about losing the beast. His pause seemed to have a more thoughtful reason behind it, and she thought that maybe Newt didn’t know that he had been smiling. What had he been thinking about? “It’s sweet you think all that,” ______ spoke, not realizing she was saying what she was thinking out loud.

Newt looked at her, making eye contact for a moment before looking down to her lips again. “You think so?” He asked, unaware of the faintest hint of a blush rushing to his cheeks. To be fair, ______ didn’t notice either, and she was staring right at him.

“I do,” she continued. “You put them before yourself, whether that be releasing them so they can live a happier life, or not even getting upset when they claw up your arm,” she nodded towards the bandaged arm. “Those are just the things I’ve noticed, I’m sure you do loads more.”

“Well, I do it for them. Did you know in the wizarding world, people actually think these beasts should be exterminated?” He asked her, almost like he was about to go into a rant. “For example, they think that they’re should be some kind of guide of how to get rid of Bowtruckles to get easier wand wood. Killing them for wands! There was someone I met, who as soon as I told her I was writing a book on these fantastic beasts, assumed it was going to be an extermination guide! We should be helping these creatures, not killing them.”

______ couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry,” she apologized before Newt could even realize what she was apologizing for. “I’m not smiling at extermination. I’m smiling at your passion. It just adds to my point further, you’re very sweet.”

Newt chuckled slightly and turned away from her, the blush deepening only slightly, still unbeknownst to him, but ______ thought she might have seen some color go to his face. “Anyways,” he began. “We should probably feed these guys.”

______ followed Newt around his grand suitcase, helping distribute food and marveling at everything that was inside the case. Her favorites included helping bottle-feed one beast and throwing some kind of floating food to some more. Newt let her help with everything, he loved telling her about all the beasts he was showing her, and she loved listening to him. He spoke with some passion, and he’d get into small rants sometimes, and she’d just stand there, watching him with a smile on her face. It was so interesting to her, she wanted to know more with everything he said. It made feeding crawl by slower than either of them expected, and the final place they went was near a Bowtruckle tree.

Newt stopped in front of the tree, turning to ______. “This is where the rest of them are,” he told her. “On top of Pickett, there’s Titus, Finn, Jeremy, Marlow and Tom. This is the branch of Bowtruckles, that’s what you call them when they’re in groups.” Newt continued to educate her.

______ lifted up her arm and looked down her sleeve again, where she last saw Pickett. Not seeing him, she felt around her jacket for a moment before finding he had resigned into hiding in her inside pocket. She carefully took him out, and he was standing on her hand. “You don’t want to go back to the others?” She asked him.

“He’s been that way ever since he had a cold,” Newt told her. “He needed some body heat, so I carried him around, but now he won’t go back on the tree. He thinks the others are going to bully him.”

“Poor little guy,” ______ said, watching as Pickett crawled up her arm and resigned himself back into her pocket.

“He really doesn’t seem to want to leave you,” Newt began, looking at her. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t just leave him here with you. That’s nothing against you, of course, but I’m just worried for him.” Newt thought what he was going to say next very carefully. What he said next was going to determine how everything was going to play out, and it was very important.

“So, erm,” he began, taking one moment longer as he had her attention. “I was wondering if I could… stay with you for a while. Under the circumstances, I can’t just leave Pickett. He’s a troublemaker. Just until I can get him off of you without being attacked, a week at the most. I promise. Then I’ll be out of your hair.”

______ thought for a moment, and the hesitation slightly frightened Newt. After a moment that felt like an eternity, she began to slowly nod. “I understand. I wouldn’t want to see you get separated from any of these guys, especially after seeing how much you care about all of them.”

“Thank you!” Newt cried out, his voice earlier than it had been before and slightly scaring ______. “Oh, sorry,” Newt said after seeing her reaction. “I was just worried you’d kick me out or something.”

“Why would I do that?” ______ asked him. Newt only shrugged. She continued. “Well, as long as you’re staying her, I suppose you can use my spare bedroom. Follow me,” she told him, but then realizing they were still in the case and she hadn’t quite learned her way around yet, stopped him her tracks.

Newt chuckled. “I’ll show us out of here, then you can show me to that room.”

“Right,” she said, blushing as slight as he did before. She followed Newt as they returned to the room they had first started in, and followed as they went up the wooden ladder.

As soon as they were out, Newt turned and locked the case, picking it up. ______ couldn’t help but look at the case in wonder for a moment. “It’s amazing how an entire… existence can fit into one case. Entire lives.”

Newt looked down at his case, shrugging and looking back at her. “Just a simple expansion charm,” he brushed it off.

“Maybe to you, but not to me,” she told him. “Maybe it’s a Muggle thing.”

“There’s a lot of Muggle things that don’t make sense to some wizards too,” Newt told her. “There’s an entire department where I work trying to find out what Muggle culture is like.”

“Seriously?” ______ laughed. “I never thought we would be so complex. Wait, so you work at a magical workplace? There’s such a thing?”

“Yes, the Ministry of Magic. They handle the wizard community in England. There’s an American equivalent too.”

“Wow,” ______ said, amazed. “Just wow.” After being in her own head for a second, picturing wizard culture, she shook her head out of the clouds and went back to what they were doing. “Anyways, follow me. This way.”

She led him into a spare bedroom, directly across from her bedroom. Opening the door, she walked in, followed by Newt. The bedroom consisted only of a small bedside table and a twin bed, neat, like no one had ever been in there. Like no one ever visited. “I know it’s not much,” she began. “But it’s what I have. The bed isn’t too bad, and you can put your stuff on the bedside table. Bathroom’s down the hall, on your left.”

Newt set his suitcase down, turning towards ______. “Thank you,” he told her. “Sorry for the inconvenience, I promise I’ll find out a way to get Pickett out of your hair.”

“It’s fine,” she reassured her. “This has all been so interesting. Just, don’t try to rush anything.”

Newt paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, what was that last part?”

“Oh!” ______ exclaimed, realizing how the last part must have sounded. She blushed only slightly, but Newt noticed it anyways. He lost eye contact with her again and looked back to her lips. She continued. “I mean, don’t try to rush a solution for Pickett. I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“Ah, right,” he said. Neither of them noticed it, but there was a small hint of disappointment in Newt’s voice. He didn’t know he put it there, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be entirely sure why. Was he expecting something else? If so, what?

Maybe he secretly wanted to hear a different reason.

Something along the lines of “Well, I enjoy your presence, Mister Scamander.”


	8. 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick history lesson before we get into this chapter.
> 
> In the 1910s-1930s, working in factories was a common but horrible job to have in New York. Workers were treated horribly, and in 1911, there was something called the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire that killed 146 and was the deadliest disaster of New York history. Even after the fire, factory conditions didn't improve much, and they didn't get a safety law passed until the 30s.

That morning, Newt woke up when he heard ______'s voice standing at the door of the room. "Mister Scamander?" she called out, her voice bouncing through the nearly-empty room. At first, Newt didn't reply, just realizing he was waking up. "Mister Scamander, are you awake?" She asked again, this time in a lower voice.

Newt rose this time, stretching and opening his eyes. "I'm awake," he replied in a sleepy voice. "What is it?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," ______ began. "I just wanted to tell you that I made some coffee and cookies, and that I'm heading off to work, so you'll be alone for a while."

As she said this, Newt looked up and down at what she was wearing. _Not a businesswoman,_ he thought. _She's not dressed formally enough._ Shaking that thought from his head, he nodded. "Thank you. Coffee and cookies you said?"

"Yeah, I don't have too much time in the morning to make much else. You can make something else too if you want, I don't mind it." ______ told him, then her eyes drifted to the walls of the room, where the clock was. "Well, unless I want to be late, I really should get going to work. Sorry again if I woke you up, I'll see you tonight, Mister Scamander!" She left the doorway, jogging a bit to make it to the door.

"I'll see you-" Newt began, but he got cut off when he heard the sound of a door closing. "...tonight, ______." He scratched the back of his head, looking over at the clock. It was roughly about 7:30, and he couldn't think where she'd work that would want her there so early. As soon as he thought about that, another thought came into his head.

Pickett probably was still on her.

As panic spread in his head, he shot up from the bed, running to the doorway. "______!" he opened her front door and poked his head out, seeing if maybe she was still in sight and heard him. No such luck.

Someone had heard him though.

The door across from ______'s flew open, and an old woman stood in the doorway, an oven mitt on one hand and her ungloved hand on the knob. "What's all this shouting and slamming doors for?" she asked, then looking at Newt, "Who're you?"

Newt averted his eyes away from hers, looking past her head to the right. "A friend of ______," he told her, still not looking at her. "Do you, erm, do you happen to know where she works?"

"A male friend staying the night?" the old woman raised an eyebrow. It was so improper, so unheard of, so _strange._ Men usually never stayed at a lady's house, it was impolite. What was also strange to her was that it was ______ _'s_ apartment. She couldn't remember a time where she ever had visitors, never mind friends who stayed the night. She shrugged, deciding not to pry too much into the matter. "I don't know where she works, sorry."

"Oh, would anyone else know?" Newt asked, desperate. He didn't want anything to happen, and he feared somebody would do something.

"No, ______ usually keeps to herself in that apartment," she told him. Then, after a moment, "I hope you're treating her well."

"Excuse me?" Newt asked. The statement surprised him so much, he looked over at the woman to see if she had as serious a face as the tone in her voice.

"I'm old, not daft," she said in a matter of fact tone. "I know what a male friend staying the night usually means. ______, you better be treating ______ right."

Newt's eyes widened. He almost started saying, 'No, no, it's not like that! I'm just staying at her house until I can-,' but he knew he wouldn't be able to finish the sentence. So, instead, he just decided to agree with the old woman. He nodded, giving her a smile. "Don't worry, ______ is fine as long as she's with me."

"Good," the old woman smiled. "Now please, keep it down, and don't slam doors. I always have to tell her that." She turned on her heels and returned back into her home, the door behind her closing gently.

Newt sighed and headed back inside ______'s apartment, closing the door quietly like the old woman wanted. He had no way of getting to her, making sure Pickett was okay.

Making sure she was okay.

He trusted her, it was the rest of the world he didn't trust. Who knows what would happen?

Meanwhile, ______ was already blocks away from her apartment, walking into the workplace she hated more than anything else: the factory. She worked at a Shirtwaist factory, among hundreds of other women and immigrants, some as young as twelve years old. Many people came to New York to work at factories, usually as a last resort when they couldn't get any other job. ______ was in the category of not being able to get another job. Try as she might, no one ever wanted to hire her. It was like she was cursed.

Pickett was still tucked inside her jacket pocket, staying out of sight. Even this morning, she couldn't convince the little Bowtruckle to stay with Newt, so she had given and decided as long as he stayed hidden, it would be fine. Not much could go wrong, right?

She clocked in at the counter and headed ten stories up before she got set up at her machine. The job wasn't too hard from the outside, it just looked like sewing. The workplace, however, was less than ideal. From the inside, as soon as you stepped in, the doors were locked. They kept it that way to keep employees from taking unauthorized breaks. On top of that, there were at least one hundred people in one room at a time, and so it got dreadfully hot. Even in the dead of winter, everyone was always sweaty. The ones by the window were lucky, and the ones near the middle sometimes suffered heat exhaustion.

She sat at her machine for hours, and the time soon passed into the afternoon. Everyone was given a ten minute break, and the first place ______ headed was outside. She didn't have a lunch, and so she didn't bother trying to find something to eat. It would take up too much time, and by the time she got to food, she would've had to get back to work. Stepping outside, Pickett picked his head out of her pocket, looking like he was just as hot as she was. ______ looked down at the little Bowtruckle. "I know, it's dreadful in there. We're halfway done though, eh?" she told him, and Pickett looked up to her with his beady eyes and moved in a way she comprehended as a nod. After they were good and cold, ______ and Pickett headed back inside, back up the stairs and back to work.

She sat at her machine, and after two hours, something happened to her that never happened to her before.

As she was sewing up the back of a shirt, the large sewing needle on the machine got her in the hand. She immediately stopped her machine and pulled her hand back, letting out a small yelp. She looked at her hand carefully, and saw that there was a sizeable gash on the back of her hand. She cringed and held it carefully, blood getting on her skirt and on her sleeve.

She stood up from her machine and went to the foreman, hoping he'd know what to do. This had never happened to her before. "Excuse me sir," she spoke, getting his attention.

"What are you doing away from your machine, miss?" he asked her, his voice laced with venom.

She swallowed, it made her nervous to continue. "I accidentally cut myself on the machine," she told him, holding her hand out for him to look at.

He didn't even glance at it. "So? It happens all the time. We can't treat every cut. Get back to your machine."

______ was shocked. "But sir-"

"Get back, or else you're being sent home without pay for today!" he shouted at her. She went quiet, heading back to her machine.

Or, at least she headed that way until he looked away from her.

Even though she knew the chances were low, she headed over to one of the doors in the room. Maybe by some luck, one of them would be open. She just wanted to headed to the bathroom to wash her hands off, surely they didn't expect her to sew with a bloody hand. The first door didn't work, but she didn't drop all her hope, there was three other doors.

After trying two more doors, each being locked, she sadly headed to the last door. Unbeknownst to her, Pickett had been watching and listening to everything, and having worry for her, he decided to try to help. Crawling up her sleeve, he managed to sneak out of her sleeve and get to the door before her, picking the lock. Before she could spot him on the knob, he was off again, and crawled up her clothes to get into her jacket.

Miraculously, no one had seen him.

She turned the knob, and she was finally happy when she got lucky (unbelievably lucky) and the door was open. Slipping through the door, she headed out into the hall.

She had no idea the foreman had finally saw what she was doing.

She headed down the hall and into the bathroom, running the sink and putting her hand under it, watching the blood flow down the drain. It stung so harshly she had to take her hand off a couple times. She stood there until it seemed to slow its bleeding. _I need to get this bandaged when I get home,_ she thought to herself. Doing the best she could with what was in the bathroom, she headed out.

Only to be face to face with the foreman.

She let out a small yelp in surprise, and the foreman had an angry, yet condescending look on his face. "I thought I told you to go back to your machine," he spat in her face.

"I needed to clean my hand," she told him in a small voice. "I couldn't work with-"

"I'll be the judge of what you can or can't work with! Now how'd you get out, hm? We keep all those doors locked."

"One of them happened to be unlocked," ______ explained.

"I lock all of those doors personally," the foreman told her, getting madder. "Are you saying I messed up on my job?"

"You must've-" ______ began, but she didn't get finish before the foreman put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her against the wall. It didn't take much force considering he took her by surprise.

"Listen here, I know how to do my job, and I don't need lip from some woman," he shouted. "Now, go back to your machine before I send you home with no-"

This time he didn't get to finish his sentence.

Pickett, who had once again been listening and watching the entire time, had crawled up ______'s sleeve and scratched the foreman down his arm, and he let out a pained yell and drew back, releasing ______. She stood there in shock, and as she knew what caused it, she looked accusingly down her sleeve, and Pickett hid himself from her stare. Worried about losing her job, she turned to the foreman as he began to yell.

"How dare you!" He yelled out, keeping his words short and he held his arm in pain. "Go home! Go home, go home, go home! No pay!"

"Sir, I didn't mean to..." she trailed off, but as he glared up at with even more anger in his eyes than before, she instead chose to give up and head down the flight of stairs, tears threatening to spill over in her eyes as quickly as they appeared.

She stepped out, and this time, the cold made her heavily shiver. "I'm sorry Pickett," she spoke while on the walk home. "It's not your fault, sorry if I made it seem that way somehow."

Once she got to her apartment, she climbed up the stairs tiredly, entering her apartment, closing the door behind her. "Don't slam it!" she heard a voice from the other room, and Newt walked into the room. "The old woman across the hall... ______, what's wrong?"

Newt could tell something was wrong. ______ looked sad and tired, and she was back earlier than he expected her to. ______ took a breath, steadying her emotions before telling him, "I didn't really have a good day at work."

Newt looked to her hand and noticed that it was bleeding, and though she tried to make a makeshift bandage, it wasn't working too well. His eyes widened, and he drew close to her. "What happened?" he asked, taking her hand and slowly taking off the useless "bandage."

"Um, I injured myself on accident," she kept her words vague. She winched when he touched her hand. It hadn't completely stopped hurting, and she was sure she ruined her blouse. Luckily, none of it got onto her one good jacket.

Newt looked up at her with a worried expression, like she had once looked at him when he was scratched down his arm. "______," he said her name so gently. "Where are you working where this happened and all they gave you was a poor excuse for a bandage?"

______ bit her lip. She almost didn't want to tell him, it was shameful to say you worked in a factory. Right when decent jobs were on the rise for women, she was still stuck in what was close to slave labor. She decided to tell him anyways. Maybe since he was a foreigner, he would find it as bad as most people did. "A shirtwaist factory," she told him slowly.

Newt looked at her with apologetic, knowing eyes. He remembered a while ago that there was a huge disaster over in America when a factory caught fire, it was said to be the biggest fire in the country, and it made news in Britain too. Newt looked at her hand and took out his wand, and ______ looked at him questioningly. "Stay still," he reassured her. "I'm not too good at it, and I've never done this before, but I'm going to try to heal your hand."

"Well, that makes me feel better," ______ said in a quiet, joking tone. She trusted Newt, and even if the spell didn't work, she didn't see how anything could go wrong. How wrong could a healing spell go?

Luckily, she didn't have to find out the answer to that question.

Newt held his wand very carefully over her hand. "Episkey," he said in a low voice. Her hand stung for a moment, and then watched as the skin seemed to attach itself back together.

"Well, that's better than getting stitches," she stated, looking at Newt and smiling. "Thank you."

Newt smiled back at her. He could tell she still seemed upset, and not wanting to pry too much as to make her even more upset, he thought up another solution. She always seemed so happy and interested when he spoke of the wizard world, so why not show her a few examples of magic to maybe lighten her up?

"Do you want to see some other magic?" he asked her. "I'm a lot better at practical magic than healing spells."

______'s face lighted up at the thought of him showing her some more magic. "Sure!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up again. Newt smiled, and as his eyes fell to her lips, he looked away.

"Well, let's start simple," he told her. He thought for a moment, trying to come up with a spell to show her. Then, it came to him. He turned to her again, holing his wand upwards, the space between them not more than a few inches. "Stand back," he told her. "Things can get hot." He made himself smile about his own joke before he whispered "Incendio."

A line of flames shot out of the wand, and ______ let out a small surprised yelp before laughing. "I get it now," she said, still laughing and shaking her head. The line of flames turning into a small one, like the wick of a candle. Newt smiled and blew the fire out.

"For my next trick," he began, mimicking a magician. Except this wasn't tricks, this was _real magic._ That thought still made ______ smile. Magic was real, and Newt was showing it to her. He was trusting her with what she thought was probably the biggest secret on the planet. He was no magician, he was a wizard.

And he was amazing.

"I'm going to need an item." He turned to the table, and seeing a book resting on it, he pointed his wand. "Accio," he said, and the book zoomed towards him before he safely caught in in his hand. ______ watched him intensely, and Newt turned to her. "Hold out your hands," he told her gently.

She held out her hands, figuring he was going to give her the book. "Palms up," he directed her, and he gently took her hands, turning them over. His hands were very different from how they were yesterday. They weren't cold anymore, or even chilly, they were warm. As he touched her hands, he remembered how soft he thought they were, and just touching them made an unnoticeable blush come to his face.

He placed the books on her palm and pointed his wand. "Wingardium leviosa," he whispered, and ______ stared in amazement as the book floated out of her hands.

"Wow," was all she could manage. And as the book gently made its way back into her hands, she set it down and turned to Newt. She smiled at him, and everything that had made her sad earlier seemed to fade away. "Thank you, Mister Scamander," she said, looking into his eyes. "For making me feel better."

Newt made eye contact with her, and as she thanked him, his blush became slightly noticeable. "Please," he began. "Call me Newt."

______'s smile grew wider. "Thank you, Newt." She looked over at the clock. After getting home from work early, and walking, and talking to Newt, it was already 6:30. She turned to him.

"Can you help me make dinner?"


	9. 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was heavily inspired by this video!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvne48F0Eqw  
> I didn't use all the questions, but I used two sets. I thought it would make it fun. Anyways, into the chapter!

The next morning, Newt woke up on his own and immediately smelt coffee. Knowing that meant ______ would be up too, he got out of bed, only to be immediately met with the cold of the air this morning. He shivered and grabbed his jacket, deciding to wear it inside the house today. He walked out of the room and headed into the kitchen, where ______ was making coffee on the stove and biting into a cookie. He observed her for a moment. Even when she wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing, she seemed to present herself flawlessly. Her beautiful, shining eyes were watching the coffee pan, waiting for it to cool enough to pour it into something. He noticed, when looking at her, she was wearing a jacket too. Finally, Newt decided to make his presence known. “Good morning.”

______ subconsciously smiled when she heard his voice, turning around and seeing him. “Good morning, Newt,” she said. “Sorry that it’s cold, I turned on the heater right as I woke up, so it should be heating up soon. You should look out the window. It started snowing like crazy last night, and it’s still snowing. It’s a storm out there.”

Newt walked towards the window, pulling back the drapes and looking at the city below. Sure enough, it was snowing heavily, and he could hear the wind shake the window. Closing the drapes, he looked over at ______. “You don’t plan on walking to work this morning, do you?” he asked her, worry in his voice.

______ shook her head quickly. “Of course not. I don’t think I’d be able to stand walking in all that snow.” As she spoke, the lights started to flicker in the house. “Since I’m not going to work though, I thought I’d finally have time to make a proper breakfast. I have some eggs, and-”

Right in the middle of her sentence, the lights flickered again, and there was some sort of large electric noise, and suddenly all the lights went out. It got super dark, especially considering ______ kept all the drapes closed in hopes it would slow the cold. “______?” Newt called out, only being able to see her outline.

“Power must’ve gone out,” ______ stated, like it wasn’t already obvious. Newt didn’t mind though, he was just glad to hear her voice.

Pulling out his wand, Newt chanted, “Lumos.” The tip of his wand illuminated, filling the room so he could make out ______’s face. “Now what?” he asked, looking to her for answers. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been caught up in a power outage.

“Let’s open the drapes,” she told him, heading over and watching her step so she didn’t fall. Pulling them open, Newt put his wand away as a dim light filled the room. ______ felt a shiver go down her spine. “So much for heat,” she complained. “The heater isn’t going to run now.”

Newt thought for a moment, then thought of an idea. “Follow me,” he told her. Before he knew what he was doing, he took her hand in his and ran to his room. She was shocked at first, but squeezed his hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. Once they got to the room, Newt looked over at his suitcase. “We can go in there, I have candles and light in there, so hopefully it’ll be warmer.”

“Sounds perfect,” ______ said with a smile, looking at Newt. He smiled back at her, and realizing he was still holding her hand, turned pink and slowly let go.

“Sorry,” he apologized. Before ______ could tell him there was no need to apologize, Newt got his suitcase and flipped it open, stepping inside. Once he was torso-deep in, he looked over at ______ and extended a hand out to her. “Come on then,” he said with a smile. “I need to feed them breakfast anyways.”

Taking his hand, the two of them descended into the case, dropping to the bottom. ______ took some time steadying herself, holding onto Newt’s arm without noticing for support. Once she felt stable and realized what she was doing, she let go. “Sorry,” she apologized quickly.

“No need to be sorry,” he told her, staring into her eyes for a moment before looking away. Grabbing a bucket, he headed outside the room, ______ at his heel. Like she had before, she helped out once again feeding everyone. It still made her so happy every time she saw Newt care for a beast with the biggest smile on his face. Sometimes she would just stand to the side, watching him feed them as he would ramble on, admiring him. He had such a lovely smile, and his hair was always wonderfully messy and curly, and she swore she could get lost in those eyes of his…

“______?” Newt called out, realizing she spaced out.

“Oh, sorry,” she said. She grabbed a handful of floating snacks and threw them about, helping him feed. After making sure everyone was fed and happy, they returned to the original room, where the candles were slightly helping the two of them warm up.

Newt sat down on the small hammock he called a bed in there as ______ wandered around the room, looking at everything she didn’t get a chance to see the last time she was in here. She never realized how many books there were, and then she found one that caught her attention. Pulling it out, she examined the small journal-like book she held in her hand. It was a dark red color, and she began to read the title out loud. “100 Conversation Starters and Questions,” she read aloud, looking at Newt.

“Oh, that’s a book my brother got me,” he told her, looking over at it. Newt and his brother weren’t very close, especially when he went to war, but he used to buy things for Newt when he came across something interesting. “He always thought I had trouble communicating with people.”

______ flipped through the pages, reading them in her head. Reading through them, she got an idea. She looked up from the book and towards Newt, a smile on her lips. “Why don’t we do a set or two of these?” she asked. “It could pass the time while we wait for the power to come back on.”

“How are we going to know if the power comes back on from in here?” Newt asked.

______ thought for a second. “Wait here,” she told him, climbing up the ladder. Newt was confused for a minute when a few moments later she came back down with a lamp in her hands, the cord extending up and out of the case. “This is the longest chord I had for a lamp. I have it plugged in upstairs. Once the power come on up there, the lamp will come on down here.”

“Makes sense,” Newt told her as she set it carefully on the table. She went towards him and took a seat next to him on the hammock, flipping to a spot in the book.

“Alright, let’s try these two sets,” she began, clearing her voice. “First question: given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?”

Newt thought about it for a moment. “There was this professor I had back when I was in school,” he began, thinking about each word carefully. “When they had kicked me out, he defended me to no end to try to clear my name and keep me in school. It was with his help I got my job at the Ministry, so perhaps I’d like to have him as a guest to thank him.”

“You almost got kicked out of school?” ______ asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I did, but after a while they let me back in and I got the chance to finish my schooling there.” He told her. He took the book from her. “Alright, your turn: would you like to be famous? In what way?”

“Famous?” ______ asked, repeating it out loud more for herself. “Hm… I don’t think I’d like to be famous. I imagine it could get tiring, having everyone know you wherever you went. I don’t think you’d get to have the same life and opportunities as everyone else.”

“I don’t think having a little fame is like that,” he told her. “Having people know your name wouldn’t be that bad, but if everyone recognized you, that could be a problem.”

______ nodded, taking the book from him again. “Before going out with someone, do you ever rehearse what you’re going to say?”

Newt shook his head. “I don’t, and I think sometimes that might be a bit of a problem. I always end up getting myself in trouble for that, some people find me quite annoying.”

“Annoying?” she repeated in disbelief. “I find it hard to picture you as annoying.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I really like being around you.”

Newt smiled at her words and took the book again. “What would constitute a ‘perfect’ day to you?”

“Hm… being with someone I liked, away from this city, somewhere it’s quiet. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard it, but some people call New York the city that never sleeps, and I can tell you it’s true. You get used to it eventually, but it’s such a busy town, and such a popular one too. Maybe just getting away for one day with someone by my side, going out and doing something fun, I would call that the perfect day.” She smiled, satisfied with her answer. Newt couldn’t help but stare at her the entire time, she had a dreamy and wishful look in her eyes when she spoke about what she pictured the perfect day to be. He always fixated on her eyes, those beautiful, shining eyes. When she stole a glance towards Newt, he looks towards her lips, handing her the book. She read the next question aloud, “When did you last sing? To yourself, or to someone else?”

“I don’t think it was that long ago…” he thought for a moment. “A week ago, perhaps, and I think it was to one of my beasts. Can’t remember who though...”

“Do you remember what you sang?”

“It was a, um, lullaby. They were sick, and I think they’re what gave Pickett his cold.” He said with a small smile on his face. He took the book. “If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?”

______ thought for a moment. “The mind, I’ve always heard when people get older, their minds start to slip away, and they lose memories. It’s heartbreaking because they’re smart, and they know they’re smart, but since their mind is going away they can’t really express it.”

Newt smiled to himself, whispering, “That’s such a Ravenclaw answer.” As soon as he said it, he began to think in his mind _what house would ______ be in?_ Would she be a Hufflepuff like him, or something else?

“What?”

“Oh, sorry. The school I went to, we were divided into houses, and your answer reminded me of one.”

“Do you think I’d be in Ravenclaw?”

He shrugged. “There’s a lot more to being in a house than what’s on the surface. After all this time, I’ve figured that much out. Who knows what house you’d be put in?”

“Well, whatever it is, I hope it’s good.” She smiled and took the book back from his hands. “Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?”

“I see they’re keeping the questions light here,” Newt joked, thinking for a moment. “I used to think that maybe I would accidentally get myself killed by a beast. That somehow, a beast would get the better of me and I wouldn’t be able to help it. After travelling all over the world, learning, and meeting all sorts of fantastic beasts, I don’t think that anymore. I think that, despite what people might think, no beast is really dangerous. No matter what, we’re always the ones who can do more damage. We’re more dangerous than they’ll ever be.”

______ just stared at him for a moment, a small smile on her face. Newt looked back at her and asked, “Did I say something funny?”

“No, not at all,” she told him, shaking her head. “I was just thinking: you’re admirable. You so kind, and you tell it how it is. Every time you talk about your beasts, I can tell that they mean the world to you. It’s charming.”

Newt blushed slightly and laughed, covering his face for a moment before putting his hand down. “I could say the same to you,” he began. “When I asked you if I could stay at your house, I was expecting you to kick me out. When I showed you magic, I feared you would run away screaming. Muggles are so strange, I’ve never met one before that reacts to magic like you do. You’re very kind, and understanding, and you’re a wonderful listener. Usually I just annoy people,” he laughed, looking down for a moment before looking to her lips. “I’m really glad I don’t annoy you.”

“I don’t think I could ever find you annoying. You’re kind, and you’ve seen things beyond your years, and yet you still do wonderful things. Wonderful things for all of your fantastic beasts.”

Newt looked up, and ask they made eye contact, he blushed again, ______ noticing it slightly. Before she could think anything about it though, Newt took the book from her and read the next question. “For what in your life do you feel most grateful?”

______ thought about it. “I’m really grateful to be able to live in this apartment, to even have a roof over my head. My family helps me out with expenses when the rent comes due, because working where I am, I don’t make much money. I’m lucky that my wage pays for food and a small portion of the rent. If it weren’t for people helping me, I might be out on the streets.”

“I might’ve run into a less understanding Muggle if they didn’t help you,” Newt added. “So I guess I’m grateful for that as well.”

______ took the book from his hands. “If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?”

Newt thought for a moment. “I’d like to think I was raised fairly. I got to be raised around magical creatures, so that was a plus. If I had to change something though… maybe I’d like to have been a little more social. Not too much so, I don’t think I could handle having a lot of friends, but just enough so maybe I could get along with people better.”

“If you changed that though,” ______ began, “You’d lose a lot of qualities you have.”

“No matter what I changed, I would lose a lot of qualities,” Newt told her. “Butterfly effect.”

“I guess so,” she agreed. “The butterfly effect will change everything no matter what, huh?”

Newt nodded and took the boo from her. “If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?”

______ smiled and came up with a response almost right away. “I’d like not to be a Muggle anymore,” she told him. “I think it would be so fascinating to become part of your community and learn everything, I already love what I’ve seen so far.”

“Well, magic isn’t all good,” Newt told her. “There’s some dark wizards who like to abuse magic and cause problems.”

“Well, then maybe I’d use my magic to fight them,” ______ said with a laugh. “Somebody’s got to do it, so even if it wasn’t me, I’d want to help. Magic should be used properly, shame on everyone who abuses it!”

Newt smiled. “That’s what I say. You’d make a great defender of magic,” he told her. _She could’ve been an Auror if she wanted to._

She took the book from him. “We finished set one!” she exclaimed happily. “One more set?”

“Sure,” he replied. “The power still hasn’t come back on, so why not?”

“Aright! You’re turn then, and it’s a fun one. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?”

Newt thought. “I’d like to know if somewhere in the future the transgressions against beasts will stop, or at least lessen. Boring, I know, but it would mean so much to me.”

“It’s not boring,” she told him. “It’s nice, and it’s meaningful. I think that’s a great question to ask an all-knowing crystal ball.”

“I hope the answer would be yes,” he took the book. “Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?”

______ pondered it for a moment. “I think… I think I’d like to get out of here. I mentioned it before, but I really think I could benefit more outside of New York than in here. I’m wasting away in that factory, and I’d love to go somewhere else, but I’m kind of stuck.”

“Stuck?” he asked. “Stuck how?”

“I have a job here, I have a place. It’s the only one I’ve got. I don’t have money to go anywhere else, and even if I did… I guess I would be scared. It’s a big world out there for someone to see on their own.”

 _I’d go with you,_ Newt caught himself thinking. He would, too. Ever since she came back with a sliced hand from her work yesterday, he’s thought that she deserves more. Something else, something that can’t be found here in New York.

Maybe someday he could get her out of here.

Maybe someday, he could take her with him.

While Newt was lost in his thoughts, ______ took the book and read the next question. “What is your most treasured memory?”

 _Coming here,_ Newt thought to himself almost instantly. He didn’t realize he said it out loud until he saw ______ giving him a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

Newt blushed slightly, and he looked away from her eyes again as he thought. What did he mean? He didn’t think about it, the thought had just made its way into his head and out of his mouth. He looked back over at ______, who was staring at him expectantly. “Oh, um…” he began, trailing off and collecting his thoughts. “Coming here, to America. To New York. It’s been a lot more interesting than I expected, in more ways than one.”

As he said this, he thought back to the time he spent with Porpentina, Queenie and Jacob. Those times were certainly interesting, but above all, there was one event that stuck out to him.

Breaking into ______’s apartment, and getting the chance to meet her, and talk to her, and get to know her. Right here, right now, this was the most interesting thing New York had brought him.

“I’m glad you like it here,” ______ said with a smile. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, but it seemed like in that moment they exchanged thoughts. ______ was glad Newt came here too. He was kind, and quirky, and smart, and he made her feel better. He made her feel important. He made her feel that maybe, just maybe, she could have a life outside of her apartment, and outside of that dreaded factory.

She felt lucky that his creature broke into her apartment.

Almost subconsciously, the two of them leaned towards each other. Neither of them were really paying attention, until suddenly a light flickering on made ______ stop in her tracks and shift her attention. Realizing what the situation looked like, ______ leaned back a bit, blushing. “Um,” she began in a low voice. “Looks like the power came back on.”

Newt snapped out of the daze he was in. One second he was just staring at ______’s lips, and the next thing he knew, he had to be snapped out of a daydream by ______. He didn’t even know what he was doing. Newt turned around looked at the lamp. “Looks like it,” he agreed.

“I’m going to see if I can get the heat turned back on,” she stood up. “I suppose it’s lunch time now. We should make something. What do you want to eat?”


	10. 10

"Hey Newt," ______ began, looking over at the man in front of her drinking coffee. This how they started their morning, ______ didn't work today, and the power didn't go out again today, so they got to sit down and have a proper breakfast. "Do you mind coming with me somewhere today?"

Newt looked over at her. "I don't mind," he answered. "Where would we be going?" He thought it would be nice to get out of this place for a while. He still wasn't having any luck getting Pickett off of ______. He wouldn't tell her, but he even tried sneaking into her room to try to get him off her while she was sleeping, and Pickett still tried putting up a fight. It wasn't a total loss though, he got to see how cute ______ looked while she slept.

That wasn't a weird thought to have, right?

"I'm supposed to pick up my paycheck at the factory today, and I need to go shopping. It wouldn't be much, just some food, but I'd appreciate the help."

Newt sat up straighter when she mentioned the factory. He'd be lying if he tried to say he wasn't curious. Ever since she had come home with her hand cut open, he wanted to see this work place. She wanted to meet her boss – who just lets someone bleed and tell them to get back to work when they obviously need treatment? "Alright," Newt nodded. "When do you want to go?"

"After breakfast?" she asked. "If we get it done quickly, we can get back in time to make lunch."

Newt nodded and continued drinking his coffee. He thought what she usually had for breakfast was interesting: she called it coffee and cookies, but the cookies reminded him more of crackers. They weren't very sweet, and they didn't taste that good unless you dunked them into the coffee. It was a plain breakfast – nothing ______ owned was really fancy. It kind of made Newt want to take her out, maybe buy her dinner, get her something a little more than the plain food she had.

Kind of like a date.

 _Almost exactly like a date,_ Newt thought. The thought of him taking ______ brought a subconscious smile to his face, one he didn't know was there. He was snapped out of his daydreams when ______'s cup clinked onto the table, and he looked over at him. "I'm done, so I'm just going to change into something warmer and we can go."

"Alright," Newt nodded, looking away from her and drinking his coffee to finish it off. He stood up, taking her cup too, and put them in the sink. Sometimes he helped her out with chores so he didn't feel like he was just living and not helping, and whenever he did, he would use magic. Partly because it made thinks easier, and partly because ______ was always entranced by it. For now though, he just left the cups in the sink, saving them for later.

Newt heard ______'s voice from behind him. "Ready!" she called out, and Newt spun around. He immediately caught ______'s eyes, and he stood for a moment, lost in them. He always admired the ways her eyes shined, and today more than usual, they seemed so lit up. So happy, so bright. After a pause of Newt just looking at her, ______ spoke. "Newt?"

"Hm?" He hummed, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Are you ready?"

"Oh, sure," he told her, nodding. She smiled, pulling her coat closed all the way and heading out of her apartment. Heading out of the round door, they were out on the cold streets of New York.

"So, how far away do you work?" Newt asked, already cold. He started to button up his jacket, something he should've done earlier.

"Not far," she began "It's only about ten minutes away."

"Ten minutes?" Newt asked, raising his eyebrows. "How do you walk in the cold for so long?"

"I just think about how hot it gets once I'm there," she told him. "We have to walk to the store too. Don't you walk everywhere too?"

"I apparate," he told her. "It's a wizard thing. We just kind of... teleport from place to place. If we can see it in our view or we've been there before, it's pretty easy to do."

"That sounds so cool!" ______ remarked excitedly. "Are you born with it, or do you have to learn it? Is it like a spell?"

"It's not a spell, and we do have to learn it. Maybe after we get groceries I can apparate us back to your apartment. Mind you though, the first time you apparate, it makes some people feel sick."

"Well, I guess I'll find out then," ______ said with a smile, already excited. After a short time, they reached the doors of the factory. She turned to Newt. "Um, you don't have to go in if you don't want to. It'll smell like a sweatshop in there. I'm just going in to get my paycheck, so I wouldn't be long."

"I'll come in," Newt told her. He was too curious to not go in. Even if she tried to keep him out, he would get inside. Why was she doing that anyways?

______ sighed and nodded, pushing the doors and heading inside.

As soon as they stepped foot in there, Newt knew what she meant by sweatshop. It smelt heavily of body odor, like no one in there had taken a shower for days. Newt scrunched his nose up, but ______ had gotten to the point where she didn't even smell it that much anymore. Anytime it changed though, she could always detect a hint of how bad it really was. The two of then walked up to the front counter, confronting the man sitting behind it. "Excuse me," she began, getting his attention.

"What is it?" he asked. "Oh, you. I imagine you're here to get your pay?"

______ nodded, and the man looked over at the rows upon rows of files. It was strange how they sorted the paychecks, but having so many workers, there wasn't much you could do. "Remind me again of your name?" he asked.

"______ ______."

He looked again and pulled out a file. "Here it is." When he opened it and looked in, his face darkened. That was never a good sign. He finally pulled out her pay stub and another piece of paper. He, along with ______ made a strange face as it, and Newt felt like he was being left out on something. Was something not right here?

"Are those notes?" ______ asked. Usually she never got any, but she heard of others getting them. Sometimes they'd leave notes for you if they wanted to talk to you, or sometimes it was their heartless way to fire you. She was worried about both.

He nodded, handing over the paper to her. She opened it, beginning to read.

_Dear Miss ______,_

_Your foreman would like to see you as soon as possible. Please go to him as soon as you collect your pay stub._

Newt looked over her shoulder, reading the letter. It usually wasn't like him to read other people's letters, but the face she was making at the paper had him worried. "Your foreman?" Newt asked. "What would he want from you?"

"I don't know," ______ spoke, only half telling the truth. She knew that the incident from a few days ago would come back to her, but what did the foreman want from her?

She had no idea.

Although she wasn't put on for today, she knew where he would be. He was the foreman for her floor every day. She looked over at Newt, again with her offer. "This shouldn't take long, you can stay down here if you want. I'll go see what he wants."

"No, I'm coming with," he said, more assertive about this than he had been before. For some reason, this letter gave him a bad feeling. The fact ______ had no idea what it would be about worried him too. He was worried about her. What's the matter with that?

"Are you sure?" she asked. She wasn't completely sure why, but she didn't want Newt to see where she worked. It was bad enough that he knew she worked in a factory, he didn't need to know how bad it really was.

"I'm positive. You said it won't take long, right? So, I'll just go with."

______ nodded solemnly, and headed towards the stairs, Newt at her heels. Walking up flight by flight, her fears grew. What did she have to be worried about anyways? She was sure it would be a civilized discussion. After all, this was a place for business.

She got there, going up to the door. She looked over at Newt. "Listen, I'm going to go in there and talk to him. I really need you out here this time, the door locks automatically and I won't be able to get out from in there. I'll knock when I'm done."

Newt didn't want to let her go in there alone. That bad feeling he had was still there, and it only increased ever since they started heading upstairs. "Won't the foreman have keys?"

"Yes..." she trailed off, realizing her little distraction wouldn't work. "Alright, you can come then, just stay by the door, alright? I don't know if you being here will get me in trouble."

"I understand," Newt told her, and with that, they entered. The heat was the first thing that hit Newt. So many people in one room, he could understand why this seemed like a sweatshop. Everyone was busy at a machine, and there was one man who was walking around watching everyone. _I'm guessing that's the foreman._ Looking at him, he noticed a bandage on his arm. A bandage much like the Newt had on his own arm if he took off his dress shirt and coat. _Couldn't be..._

"I'll be right back," she told Newt, walking away from him and towards the foreman. She grew nervous, what would this all be about? She looked back at Newt, as if looking to him for protection. He made her feel safe, somehow. Like nothing could go too wrong if he was there. At the moment he was distracted, his eyes wandering all around the room. When she turned back, the foreman was heading towards her.

"Miss ______," he began, a sinister grin on his face. "Good to know you got my note. I need to talk to you."

"That's why I'm here," she told him. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, so could we make this quick?"

"Follow me," he told her, gesturing towards one of the doors on the other side of the room. She looked at him suspiciously. "What, don't you trust me? I just want to have a talk."

Without thinking about it, the first thing she did was look over at Newt. He had been looking at her took, and she tilted her head towards the door the foreman was getting her through. He stared at her blankly, then slowly nodded. She turned back to the foreman. "Alright, let's go."

"Good," he told her, his voice cold. She followed him to the other side of the room, and stealing a glance behind her, she saw that Newt was following them. The foreman unlocked the door, stepping out, and then locked it again. The thought suddenly hit her – how was Newt supposed to follow them out now?

Newt tried to turn the handle. When it wouldn't budge, he remembered suddenly what ______ told him. _They lock from the inside._ "Merlin's beard," he whispered to himself, jiggling the door handle. When it still wouldn't budge, he took a breath in. _Maybe you're worrying too much,_ he told himself.

However, for good measure, he decided to listen in. He put his ear on the door, listening for their conversation.

Once in the hallway, ______ tried not to make eye contact with the foreman. She looked elsewhere, anywhere, but at him "What is it, sir?" she asked him.

"I wanted to talk you," he said, a strange tone in his voice. "You're walking on thin ice, ______. Ignoring orders, taking breaks, attacking a foreman, not showing up for work..."

She interrupted him. "Sir, I couldn't even get out of my apartment yesterday, and I'm sorry about your arm-"

"Quiet! You know, I have every right to fire you for all you've done. However, I am willing to look over it... for a price."

______ gave him a strange look. "What do you mean?" she asked, suddenly nervous. The foreman got uncomfortably closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing?" she asked, pulling away.

He took another step towards her, putting his arms on either side of her when she was against the wall. "Don't make a sound, okay? Just listen to me." he told her. She was so shocked, she had no idea what to do. Right as he went to get closer to her, Pickett made a return, and so did Newt.

Newt heard everything that was going on from the other door. He tried the door again as soon as he heard ______'s voice get worried. Looking around, he decided to take a chance. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. "Alohomora," he whispered and the lock gave.

At the same time, Pickett jumped out of her pocket, right for the foreman's eyes. He was doing what Bowtruckles did best, attacking people's eyes with their sharp fingers. The foreman let out a screech and pulled back, forcing Pickett off his face and throwing him. "Pickett!" ______ called out, rushing over to him.

Newt walked in, closing the door behind him, and pointed his wand at the foreman. Doing the first spell that came to mind, he muttered, "Petrificus totalus." As the foreman fell to the ground, Newt went over to ______, who was in the process of putting Pickett back in her pocket. "Are you okay?" he asked her immediately.

She nodded slowly, still shocked about what just happened. Everything went by so fast, she could barely keep up. "How'd you get in here?" she asked him.

He held up his wand. "Unlocking charm for the door," he gestured towards the foreman laying on the floor. "Petrification charm for him."

______ stared at the foreman, who laid still on the floor. "I am so fired..." she trailed off.

"You were fired from the start," the foreman said, barely able to get the words out. "Now even more so, you witch."

"I am not a witch," she told him. "Even if I was, I wouldn't have any shame. At least I wouldn't be working in a dump like this."

Newt looked at the bandages on the foreman's arm again. "Did... Pickett do that?" he asked at last, looking towards ______. The question had been on the back of his mind ever since he saw the foreman earlier.

______ hesitated for a moment, then finally, she sighed. "I meant to tell you earlier, I really did... but I didn't want Pickett to get in trouble. It wasn't his fault," she gestured towards the foreman, " _he_ was harassing me."

Newt looked towards the pocket Pickett was in, who was sticking his head out at the mention of himself. It wasn't a harsh, disappointed, or even angry look, it was... understanding. He was secretly happy Pickett had done it. He knew magical creatures weren't supposed to harm Muggles under any circumstances, but this one... this one was special.

It's not as if Newt was ever one to listen to the rules much anyways.

Looking back at ______, Newt began, "Well, we should get going. Before we do though..." he trailed off, turning towards the foreman on the floor and pointing his wand at him. "Obliviate."

______ watched as a silver mist traveled from Newt's hand towards the foreman. "What does that do?"

"It gets rid of all memories of magic," Newt told her. "He's seen a bit too much." After obliviating him, Newt took ______'s arm. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," she told him. "I promise. Now, let's go."

Newt let go of her arm, and followed her as she went down the stairs. Now more than ever he was glad he was here for her. Who knows what could've happened if he had stayed downstairs.

As they went down the stairs, ______ still had her mind on what just happened. You could get rid of someone's memories of magic? She couldn't imagine what that would be like. After everything she's seen, she would be devastated if someone told her she couldn't keep those memories.

Unfortunately, soon someone was going to tell her exactly that.

As she and Newt finally got out of the factory, she led them towards the local grocery store. As soon as they were out, her mind was far from what just happened. It was back into the cold, into life, back out shopping with Newt. Once they made it inside, she grabbed a basket.

"Alright," she began. "With what I just got, I should be able to get some bread, fruits, maybe rice, some coffee, and if I can, cocoa," she continued the list in her head. Like before, Newt thought everything she was getting sounded plain. That's all she could afford, really. She didn't have the funds to buy any fancy foods, and it didn't bother her too much. As long as if could get her through the week, it would be fine.

Newt ended up having to grab a basket too, and after they filled both of them, they headed towards the counter. That's when he heard a familiar voice call out his name from behind him.

"Mister Scamander?"


	11. 11

Newt and ______ both turned around, in nearly-perfect sync. Newt knew that voice, and ______ was curious who else would know Newt. Standing in front of them was a tall, brown-haired woman, who seemed to have mixed emotions on her face.

"Tina?" Newt asked, blinking. He was shocked, he wasn't really sure it was her at first. What was she doing in a Muggle's grocery store?

"I thought you left New York!" she asked, smiling and stepping towards him. That's when she noticed ______, who was standing behind Newt with a confused expression. She could tell from just one look at her that she was a no-maj. _Newt and no-majs never mix well,_ she thought to herself. In all her time with him, she couldn't remember one no-maj Newt didn't accidentally expose magic to. Of course, he _did_ end up fixing everything, but it always got her worried. Before Newt could open his mouth to reply to Tina, she spoke again. "Can I speak to you for a moment? _Alone?_ " she stressed.

Newt looked over at ______, who just looked back at him wide-eyed and shrugged. She had no idea what was going on, but whoever this woman was, Newt seemed to know her. ______ examined the woman. He couldn't remember Newt ever mentioning someone who looked like her, and she'd never heard the name Tina before. Even though she knew she had nothing to worry about, something else stirred in her. Something she couldn't name.

Newt turned and looked back at Tina, nodding silently. Tina took his arm, looking over at the mysterious no-maj. "This will only take a second," Tina reassured her.

"Take your time," ______ replied in a neutral voice. She still wasn't sure how she felt towards this woman, and that strange feeling she was having wasn't going away for some reason. It wasn't a bad vibe, but it wasn't a good feeling either.

She didn't know how to name it, but it was felt very close to jealousy.

But she had no reason to be jealous... right? It's not like she was in a relationship with Newt, and it's not like this woman stated herself as having feelings towards him or anything. For all she knew, this Tina woman was just a friend of his, nothing more, nothing less.

Tina didn't hesitate for a second to start asking questions as soon as she knew she was out of earshot from the no-maj. "Scamander, who's the no-maj you're here with?"

 _Oh here we go,_ Newt thought to himself in his head. "It's kind of a funny story. Well, uh, turns out I missed my boat, and the next one isn't for... well now it's not for two or three more days. I ended up accidentally breaking into her house in pursuit of my Niffler who got loose, and, well, she found me hanging from her window."

"You were hanging from her window?" Tina asked, rather loudly, in shock.

"Tina, your voice. I was, and she helped me back in, and... well, Pickett has gotten attached to her. I can't seem to get him off."

Tina put her head in her hands. "I'm going to assume she knows about magic then," she sighed. This was already sounding like a mess, and depending on how much she's seen, it would be even worse.

"Well, I kind of had to tell her. There's a magical creature on her that won't leave her. It's kind of hard to miss that." Newt told her. He could see the disappointment on Tina's face. Less disappointed in him and more disappointed in the fact that she would have to end up being the one dealing with this if Newt wouldn't obliviate her.

"Well, how close are you to getting Pickett off her?" She asked, rubbing her temples. _Please say close, please say close, please say close..._ she thought to herself over and over.

"How close?" he repeated the question, thinking about it. Well, he wasn't very close at all, but it's not like he was trying _everything._ He wasn't willing to, he didn't want to have to trick ______ or Pickett. Also... there was this feeling he had of not wanting to try harder. He didn't know what it was about her, but he didn't want to leave ______. Even if he couldn't get Pickett off of her... would that be such a bad thing?

After all, she said she always wanted to leave New York.

There had been a long pause where Tina had just been staring at Newt. She seemed to recognize the look in his eyes when he spaced out... it was the same look her sister had on her face whenever she was with Jacob. The same looked whenever Queenie talked about Jacob, when she thought Queenie was spacing off and thinking about him. She knew that look in Newt's eyes. Finally, Newt snapped out of his thoughts and started replying to Tina. "Not very close, I still have to-"

"You've got feelings for her, don't you?" she asked suddenly. Her tone came across as accusing, as if she was already against it. Already against Newt liking ______, and she hadn't even met her yet.

"What?" Newt asked, unaware that there was a small, barely noticeable blush on his face. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Tina continued, her face morphing now into a sad one. Here eyebrows curved up, and she looked at Newt desperately. She was sure he didn't know, but the time they spent together was what Tina considered to be some of the best times of her life. He made her feel so helpless, even if she wouldn't say anything. Even if she didn't show it well. She was hoping she was wrong, but from the look on Newt's face, she already knew she was right.

Even if he didn't confirm it, she could tell just from the look on his face.

"I mean," he began, trying to come up with words. Words for how he felt, words to describe it so he wouldn't have to lie to Tina. He respected her that much. "I like her, she's my friend. She's understanding, and she doesn't react badly to magic, I'm sure she wouldn't tell anybody."

"Newt..." Tina trailed off, dropping the pleasantries. "You know the rules as much as I do. It's my job. We can't have her know, there can't be any exceptions."

"Please Tina," Newt began. "The rules here about Muggles are so backwards."

Tina bit her lip. She didn't want to do this to Newt, but it was her job. Also... she was admittedly upset. It was so obvious to her that Newt cared deeply about her, and she began to wonder if he'd do this for her. He was desperate to get Tina to not do what she had to do for this woman, whoever she was. "Newt, I wasn't allowed to overlook the rules for my sister. I can't overlook the rules for you either."

Newt looked away from her, looking to the ground. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to say. "Tina, please. I'll take her out of New York with me," he suddenly offered. "You'll never have to see her again. She won't be under MACUSA's jurisdiction anymore. Just... don't do this."

"Why are you doing all of this for her?" she asked Newt, staring at him. She asked, but she already knew the answer. She just wanted to hear him say it.

"I already told you," Newt said shorty. "So, Tina, don't obliviate her. I'll take her out of New York. She'll get on that ship with me and you won't have to see her again, just please, _don't do this._ "

When Tina opened her mouth to speak, she hesitated for a moment. She knew that would work, she knew that he could get away with doing that. Inside her though, she didn't want him to get away with it. So, she decided quickly he didn't need to know he could get away with doing that. "Rules are rules, Newt. There can be no exceptions," she paused. "However, I'll let you do it. If you don't. however, obliviate her before you leave, I'll come and do it myself."

Newt sighed. He wanted this less than anything else. He didn't want to obliviate her, he didn't want to be in this situation, he didn't want this to be happening. Why couldn't Tina just let the two of them leave New York? Newt had never heard of any laws against that, and he knew over in England they were slacker with the rules against relations with Muggles. Everything would be fine if he got there, so why couldn't he do it? "Fine," he whispered to Tina in a tone that made her heart sink.

"Where can I find you two?" Tina asked.

"Her apartment complex. Next to the docks, three floors up, first door on your right."

"I'm sorry Newt. I'll let you say goodbye to her, at least. You should be the one to tell her anyways."

"Saying goodbye doesn't help," Newt said shortly, looking up at Tina with a sad look in his eyes. "You know that as much as I do, Tina. Saying goodbye doesn't help when you know they're going to forget you."

Tina was the one to hang her head this time. "I'm sorry, Mister Scamander," she whispered. She felt guilty, but a part of her was secretly happy. He wasn't allowed to have a relationship with a no-maj, he should've known. It was better for him to be in a relationship with a witch.

Like her.

Newt didn't even reply to her, he just turned around and walked away, heading back to ______. When he was back in her line of sigh, right away she could tell something was wrong. His head hung low, and it wasn't his usual "avoid eye contact" kind of head hang, it was sad. When he got close enough to her, she took a step towards him. "Is everything alright Newt?"

As he opened his mouth, about to reply, he heard Tina come around the corner and look at him. He glanced back at her before lifting his head and looking at ______'s lips. "I'll tell you later," he whispered to her. "Let's just pay for what's in here and go make lunch, eh?"

______ smiled and nodded. "Alright," she told him, heading towards the counter. Usually, she would probably pry more, but under the circumstances she decided not to. He already told her he'd tell her later, and something about that Tina woman made her uncomfortable. Newt had looked so sad after talking to her, so defeated. She wanted to know what was wrong.

She wanted to know if there was any way she could help.

They bought the groceries, and heading out, Newt looked around. He remembered, walking out into the cold, that he was going to show her what apparating was. "Follow me," he told her in a low voice. He took her empty hand, they each had one bag of groceries, and led her into an alleyway before she had a response.

"What is it?" ______ asked, smiling slightly at the secrecy of what was happening. Newt's face seemed more animated than it had been before, like he was about to show her some magic.

Which was exactly what he was doing.

"Hold onto my arm," he told her. "Remember how I was going to show you how I apparate? Well, we can't just do it out in the open."

"Oh, yeah!" ______ exclaimed happily. She took his arm, looking up at him and smiling while looking into his eyes. "Didn't you say that some people get dizzy their first time?"

He nodded. "Yes, a lot of the time people can get sick. I guess we'll have to find out if you're one of them."

Newt drew out his wand, and with a _swish,_ everything seemed to go dark. ______ felt immense pressure pushing on her from every angle and every direction, and the world turned around her. She closed her eyes, fearing if she opened them she'd start to get more motion sick than she was already feeling. All she could really feel besides the pressure of everything around her was Newt's arm, which she subconsciously began to squeeze harder the dizziness got more intense.

Once the pressure seemed to stop, she slowly opened her eyes. The sudden readjustment of landing caused her to start to drop her bag and fall down, and luckily, Newt saw this. "______!" he called out, dropping his bag and catching her. "Are you alright?"

It was taking a moment for ______ to readjust. "I'm fine," she slowly got out. "Just super dizzy."

As she tried to stand up again, she began to tip over, and Newt caught her again. "You should sit down," he told her, concern in his voice. "Come on."

Keeping her in his arms, he slowly walked her over to the couch, and he didn't let go of her for a second before sitting her down. He let go of her only slightly, his hands still on her shoulders as he looked at her eyes. She had shut them again to attempt to slow the dizziness. "______?" he called out her name softly.

"Hm?" she asked, slowly starting to open her eyes. She was still dizzy, but looking into Newt's eyes suddenly gave her a new feeling of stability. Her head was still spinning, but her vison was now only focused on looking into his big, blue eyes.

"Making sure you're still conscious. Seems like you had a little bit of a bad reaction to apparating," he told her. "You sit down for a while and I'll put everything away and make us lunch, okay?" he offered. Even if she said no, he planned to persist. He didn't want her standing up right now, she didn't have to push herself.

She nodded slowly, leaning back on the couch. Newt let go of her shoulders and stood up, grabbing the dropped bags. Lucky nothing broke, he'd feel bad if something had cracked. Taking them to the kitchen, he looked over at ______ every so often to make sure she was still okay. She was laying across her couch now, eyes closed. He started to make one of the simple things that they had bought: soup.

He had disappeared into his suitcase just for a short while to grab some medicine for her, coming back up and taking two bowls of soup into the living room. "______," he called out her name. "I made us some soup and brought you some medicine. It should stop the dizziness.

She sat up, rubbing her head and taking a bowl. "Thank you," she said, smiling and beginning to eat. She took the medicine Newt gave her, and as she finished the soup, her headache slowly began to go away, replaced with another thought. "So what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?"

Newt froze mid-putting his bowl down. He nearly forgot about everything that just happened with Tina. _What am I going to tell her?_ he began to think. He really didn't want to obliviate her, it was the last thing he wanted. He was sure it was the last thing Pickett wanted to, he seemed to be very attached to her, in more ways than one. Pickett was upset when he thought Newt was going to give him away, how would he react if he was forcefully taken away from his new friend?

Then there was the fact that Newt just couldn't fathom obliviating her. He didn't want her to forget all about magic when she's done nothing wrong, when she loves it so much, when it wasn't her fault she got dragged into this. Most of all... he didn't want her to forget about him. He didn't want to sail away from New York know he'll never cross her mind once, while she'd cross his mind often. He couldn't handle the idea of her forgetting about every time he made her smile using magic, how he saved her, how she saved him. He couldn't let her forget. He couldn't do the deed himself, and he didn't want anyone else to either.

Well, what other choice did Newt have?

He was going to have to break the rules.

He finished putting down his bowl, turning to ______. She'd never seen him with such a serious look on his face, and his sad demeanor from earlier returned to his face. Whatever he was about to tell her, she knew it wasn't going to be good news. "Remember my friend from earlier, Tina?" he asked her.

______ nodded. "What's going on?" she asked. She didn't like not knowing what's happening, and the look on Newt's face only made her even more worried.

"Well, you see, she works for a major magic cooperation here called MACUSA. They make sure that wizardry doesn't get exposed here in America. To make sure of it, they have very strict, very backwards laws against Muggle and wizard relations here. You're not allowed to be friends with them, you're not allowed to date the, you're not allowed to marry them. Well... she knows you know about magic. She told me... she told me I need to obliviate you."

He said the last part in a whisper, but ______ still caught it. "Obliviate me?" she asked slowly. "Like what you did to my foreman?"

Newt nodded. "All of your memory of magic would be gone. It would be like you woke up and it was all one big dream." As he said this, he could see the expression in ______'s eyes change. They went from curious and shining to devastated. The shine left them, and their color seemed to dull. _No,_ he thought. _No. I don't want to see her like this._

"You mean... I won't remember any of this? I won't remember any of your beasts? I won't... I won't remember you?" she asked. Newt's heart shattered, hearing her speak like this. He could see that subconscious tears began to well up in her eyes, and he couldn't stand it. With every 'I won't' her voice seemed to break a little more. She didn't want to lose her memory, she didn't want to be obliviated.

She didn't want to forget Newt. Above all else, she didn't want to forget him. In a short amount of time, he already did so much for her, and she... she...

She couldn't forget him.

"No," he began. "You wouldn't." he thought over his next words for a second. He feared telling her this, but he already made up his mind. It was a bit of a stretch, but he needed to ask. He couldn't leave without asking. Even if she said no, he wouldn't be able to leave happy unless he at least tried to ask. "_______... there is a way that we might be able to get out of it."

"How?" she asked quickly, suddenly sounding desperate. The tears threatened to spill over, but she looked up, trying to avoid them falling.

Newt took a breath in. "Come with me to Britain."

There was a long pause. "What?"

Newt continued. "The laws there are different. They allow Muggles and wizards to interact, to be friends, to have relationships. They're allowed to know about magic, as long as they don't go around telling everyone about it. I know it's a lot... but you said yourself you've always wanted to get out of New York. That your job was keeping you here, you couldn't get other work. You've lost your job, and... I don't want you to have to deal with having to find a new one alone. Not when you want to leave. So, come with me. My ship comes in two days, we can get out of here. We can avoid you having to be obliviated."

______ paused. This was a big decision, and she needed to think about it, even though all her impulses were telling her same thing. They all seemed to be telling her to say yes. She needed to stop and think for a moment though.

She didn't have any friends she'd be leaving in New York. She didn't have a job she'd be leaving in New York, not anymore anyways. She had no family she'd be abandoning. The real question was: what was keeping her here? She had told Newt just the other day that she wished she could leave, but things were keeping her here. Well, now all those things were gone, and he was offering to take her away. Why would she say no? _What was keeping her here?_

Absolutely nothing.

She liked being with Newt. He made her happy, and he was able to make her feel better when she felt down. He had managed to protect her, he was there for her. She really did like being with Newt... more than she could say.

"Why are you doing all of this for me?" she suddenly asked. She didn't even think about it before it came out of her mouth, it just did. She regretted putting him on the spot like that as soon as the words left her lips but... she was curious. She would admit that much.

"Because I-" Newt began quickly, not thinking of his words. He didn't even pay attention to what he was saying until he seemed to pause. When he paused, ______ looked at him expectantly. Newt took a deep breath in, and told her what was on his mind.

"Because I care about you, and I don't want to see someone I care about so much to forget all about me like I never existed."

She nodded, listening to his answer. "I care about you too... I'll go with you."


	12. 12

The next day seemed to pass by in a blur. After ______ decided that she would go with Newt, she had to contact her family and tell them she wouldn't need help with expenses on her apartment anymore. They thought it was because she finally got a better job, but when she told them the real reason, they were surprisingly supportive. They were all for her getting out of New York. They knew how much the city drained her, and how much she's always wanted to leave. So, they let her do it.

The next thing she had to do was talk to her landlord. Obviously, she couldn't take all of her stuff with her to Britain. She already knew what she was going to bring, but as for the rest of the stuff, she told the landlord to just include it with the apartment next time they try to sell it. Considering she was still on a one-month contract, it took some time to get the landlord to let her off, but she finally did it.

Considering those two things alone took up the majority of her last day, it wasn't surprising when she woke up and she knew it was the day. The day they were leaving. She couldn't wait. It was goodbye life in New York, hello life in Britain.

With Newt.

_With Newt._

That thought send chills down her spine. She didn't have to move out alone, she got to move somewhere new with him. He always seemed to bring a smile to her face, it was just something about it. It wasn't just his magic that made her happy, it was his smile, his personality, how he knew how to treat her. Thinking on it, she couldn't imagine moving out with anyone else.

She got up from her bed, changing into different clothes and packing for the last time, getting all the stuff she couldn't pack before. After double checking she had everything, she went over to Newt's room to check on him. She walked down the hallway, peaking her head into his room. "Newt?" she called out.

No answer.

"Newt?" she called out again, stepping inside. To her surprise, he was still sleeping. She walked over to the side of the bed, looking at his sleeping face. She knew she had to wake him up so they could get to their boat on time, but looking at him like this... he was very cute when he slept. She knelt down to his level, looking at his sleeping face. Whatever he was dreaming about, it was making him smile softly. His eyes were closed so gently, and she thought she could probably count his freckles to pass the time if she wanted to-

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Newt mumbled in his sleep. "______..." he mumbled, shifting slightly.

______'s face went red. Why was he saying her name? "Are you awake?" she asked suddenly. Maybe he was actually awake and saw her come in, he couldn't possibly be dreaming about-

Newt's eyes shot open as he heard her voice. "______!" Newt shouted, sitting up quickly. His face was red, how long had she been in there? Luckily, ______ was too embarrassed herself to notice how red his face was. Had he known she was staring at his face?

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, standing up again. "I was just coming on here to tell you that we should get going soon. I didn't mean to... uh... wake you up." She looked away. "I'm going to go make up coffee before we go!"

Getting out of his room, she was still embarrassed that he saw her staring at his face. Usually she didn't act like that, but she really did think Newt was cute when he was sleeping. However, Newt was too busy dealing with his own embarrassment. He knew he sometimes had a habit of mumbling in his sleep, he just hoped he hadn't said anything about that one. The specifics of the dream had already begun to slip away from him, but he knew one thing for sure: it had something to do with ______.

As the water of the coffee was boiling, ______ heard a knock at the door. _Who's trying to visit me?_ ______ asked herself. She never got visitors, no one ever came to see her. The fact that there was someone knocking on her door on the day that she was going to be leaving made her curious. She walked towards the door, looking through the peephole.

She saw the woman from the grocery store the other day. Her name was Tina, right? What was she doing here?

______ began to cautiously open the door. "Hello?" she questioned. What was she doing here? Did she come to say goodbye to Newt or something?

Tina stared at no-maj before her. She could already tell Newt hadn't wiped her memory, she could tell just from the look in her eyes. She obviously was wary of Tina, not like someone would be towards a stranger, but like someone would be when they were unsure what a person would do. She sighed. "Mister Scamander couldn't do it, huh?"

Tina's voice rang through the house and hit Newt's ears with a buzz. What she told him suddenly came back to him. That if Newt didn't wipe ______'s memories by the time he was supposed to leave, she would. Quickly, Newt finished getting ready and dashed out of the room.

Tina looked at ______, grabbing her wand from her pocket. "I'm sorry," she began. "Just stay still. This will be painless."

"What are you doing?" ______ asked, taking a step out. When Tina took her wand out, ______'s heart almost jumped out of her chest. All of a sudden, it came back to her. Tina was the one who told Newt that it was her job to make sure she was obliviated, so of course she wouldn't let ______ just walk away with her memories.

As Tina opened her mouth and pointed her wand, she didn't get a chance to even say the spell before she was interrupted by a louder wizard.

"Expelliarmus!"

Newt had run out of his room, wand in hand, and pointed it right at Tina. Her wand flew out of her hand, and her attention was immediately turned towards Newt. He had a hurt, destroyed, and accusing look on his face. One she never wanted to see. He was looking at her like she had just stepped on one of his beasts. Her wand had flown out of her hand, and now it was rolled out a couple of feet in front of her. Tina wasn't invested in getting her wand back at the moment, she and Newt were just looking at each other.

"Newt, why couldn't you just obliviate her?" Tina asked, a sad tone in her voice. "I told you it couldn't be avoided."

Newt kept his wand pointed, stepping towards them now. ______ was caught in the middle, fearing that she might not make it out of this with her memories intact. "Newt..." ______ began, looking over at him with a scared expression. "What do I do?"

Newt got closer, taking the girl's hand. "Stay behind me," he told her, leading her behind him. Tina watched this exchange with sad eyes. What was so special about this no-maj? Why was Newt going through all this trouble for her? She'd never seen him like this, he was suddenly acting very protective, like she was threatening _him._ Tina took this moment between them as an opportunity to snatch back her wand from the floor. Now she and Newt were at a standstill, pointing their wands at each other.

Nobody thought you'd ever see this kind of sight. It was atypical of a Hufflepuff, which people consider to be the nicest, most innocent houses, to point his wand at someone, ready for battle. What people tend to miss is that Hufflepuffs are so much more than their stereotype. Hufflepuffs could come through for battle when it came down to it, they could rise to the top when it was somebody they cared about. They were resourceful, and despite Ravenclaw teasing, they were intelligent. They knew how to stick up for themselves, and more importantly (to them, at least), they knew how to stand up for others.

So, that's exactly what Newt was going to do. He was going to stand up for ______, and he was not going to allow her to be obliviated.

Tina pointed her wand at Newt with a heavy heart. She didn't want this, this was the _last_ thing she wanted. Why did no one listen to her when she told them not to get attached to no-majs? It was causing her sister grief, and now, it was going to cause her and Newt grief. She was going to have to obliviate ______, whether Newt liked it or not. She had convinced herself of this now, there was no other way. She couldn't let the two of them walk away together.

Even if Newt never forgave her, she had to do it. He couldn't walk away happy with a no-maj. Her sister wasn't allowed to. Her sister had to live with the heartbreak.

So now Newt had to.

Why couldn't Newt just pick her? Wouldn't that make everything so much easier?

"Newt," Tina began in a sad voice. "You know I have to do this. Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Tina, you know that you _don't_ have to do this," Newt began. He knew what he was talking about, and he hoped Tina did too. In fact, he _knew_ Tina should know what he was talking about. She had lied to him. While ______ had been getting ready to leave yesterday, he had popped in for a visit in MACUSA. There was no law about moving away from America with a Muggle.

Tina feigned ignorance. Or, perhaps it wasn't feigning. Maybe she truly had convinced herself that this was the only way. Either way, she didn't register what Newt was saying. "What do you mean?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Newt, please, if you don't want me to do this, then you have to do it yourself."

"No way," Newt shook his head. "Tina, you lied to me."

"What?" Tina asked, her voice cracking. His voice was so accusing, so cold towards her.

Newt could stand here and argue with Tina, he could fight her, he could bargain with her. He could do all of this, but what he wanted to do was make sure that ______ was safe under any of these circumstances. He didn't want to get distracted and possibly miss something, ______ getting hurt of obliviated in the process. No matter what he did, he had to make sure she was safe. He turned to her. He hadn't let go of her hand, and she was still standing behind him, confused and worried. "______," he began, looking at her. "Go into your guest bedroom and step into my case, I will not have you lose your memory. Not like this."

"I don't want to leave you," ______ told him before she thought through her words.

"______... I don't want you to lose your memory under any circumstances. Especially not under these ones, not when you're so close to finally leaving like you always wanted."

"Newt, don't do anything rash for me. I don't want you getting into trouble for me."

"You and I have done nothing wrong, I promise. I didn't lie to you ______, I never lied to you." He looked down from her eyes, so her lips, to her pocket where he could see Pickett. Usually he told others to look after his beasts, but here, now, he was asking Pickett to look after ______. It was so obvious, he knew Pickett could get ______ out of this situation if he had to. He already proved to be protective of her before, so now he knew Pickett would come through for him. "Just please, go. I'll come get you in a second."

"He might not," Tina piped in. "Laws are laws."

"Go, now," Newt told her in a soothing whisper. ______ nodded silently, looking towards Tina. She knew she should be mad at Tina. She was trying to take away her memories, she was being heartless, she seemed full of herself from the moment she walked in the door, but at the same time... she could see a shade of sadness. Tina didn't want to do this, not to Newt at least. She could tell that much.

Could it be that Tina was in love with him?

As she turned her back to walk away, Tina pointed her wand. "Obliviate."

As ______ heard the words leave Tina's mouth, she froze up. She expected something, and in a millisecond of silence, she was expecting the worse. However, that's not what happened. Instead, she turned around to see Newt jumped in front of her, pointing his wand. "Protego!" he shouted, and the silver mist that seemed so close to hitting her seemed to be deflected by an invisible wall. He looked back at ______. "Run," he told her in the calmest voice he could muster.

______ nodded, and she turned and ran, hoping she wouldn't hear Tina's voice again. Newt seemed to be keeping an incredibly calm demeanor the entire time, but on the inside, he was panicking. He wasn't sure what he was doing, or if he was doing anything right. He was acting off impulse, and perhaps that was what was saving him.

______ ran into the now-vacant room, seeing Newt's suitcase resting on the bed. She took a breath and opened it slowly. She had never been in there without Newt, she felt like she was invading. She felt like she was trespassing. He did, however, tell her to go in there, and she trusted him. So, with one last look behind her back, she climbed down, hiding herself.

Meanwhile, Newt and Tina were still in a standstill. Newt kept his wand pointed, watching her. You could barely detect that there was a shade of sadness and regret in his eyes. He didn't want to fight with Tina, he didn't want this to be happening. "Tina," he began, in a low, calm voice. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Tina told him, beginning to lower her wand. She didn't come here to fight Newt, she came here to obliviate ______. She wasn't going to leave without doing that, but she wasn't going to hurt Newt in the process.

"I went to MACUSA to brush up on some of the laws against Muggle and wizard relations. There's nothing stating that they have to be obliviated even if they're leaving the country, nothing that even sounds like it. As soon as ______ and I leave, we're out of MACUSA's jurisdiction, you don't have to worry about it."

Tina froze. She knew that, she _knew_ that. Somehow, she managed to convince herself there was no other way. She didn't want to believe that was the law. She didn't want to believe that she'd be seeing Newt and ______ get on a boat and leave, off to be happy together.

She wanted to leave with him.

He had saved her, and she couldn't forget that. They were going to die, but he saved her. Since then, she's always felt... _something._ She thought that maybe he felt it to, but now, she could see he never held her that way. Still, she wanted to hear it from him She _needed_ to hear it from him. Why did he like her so much? What made her so special? Why was he doing all of this?

"Newt..." she began, now in a calmer voice. On a completely different level, on a different thought. "Why are you doing all of this for her?"

"I already told you-" he began, but he didn't get to finish.

"You said it was because she's your friend, I know. That's what you're _saying,_ but it doesn't make any sense. Jacob was your friend too, and you didn't do half of this for him. You didn't try to protect him from the law, you just accepted that's the way things were. You watched as your friend lost all his memories of you. It doesn't make sense. You call her a friend, but you hold her higher. How do you really feel about her?"

Now Newt was the one to pause. She wasn't lying, and now he didn't understand it either. Jacob was Newt's friend, and he knew he had to let Jacob go. So, he did. He felt so bad about it, watching Jacob forget everything. Of course, he did give Jacob a little something for his trouble, even if he doesn't know why it was given to him. But, with ______... he couldn't imagine just letting her go with a trinket. He couldn't imagine giving into this fight. It was just something about her, he felt more drawn to her than he was to other people. She understood him, she understood his beasts.

And she had the most magnificent eyes.

"I care about her, Tina. I really do. I can't see another person forget about me, not when I hold her so close. I can't forget her, and I can't let her forget about me."

She finally heard it. Tina finally heard the straight answer she wanted.

"I loved you," she suddenly told him. Newt's eyes widened with shock as she continued. "Ever since you saved me, I loved you."

Before Newt could open his mouth to say something, Tina sighed and held up her wand again. Tears she didn't even know were in her eyes spilled over, and she tried everything not to just full out cry right there. She finally heard it, and she knew it all along. He didn't love her, she knew that.

It just hurt so much more knowing he was in love with ______. ______, the no-maj.

Before Newt could say anything to her, she interrupted him. "I'll leave you alone then. Get your case, get ______, and get out of New York. Be happy, for me Newt. I loved you." With that, she waved her wand, and she had apparated out of the apartment.

Newt just stood there, dumbfounded.

"I had no idea."


	13. 13

Newt had to get over the shock, he knew that.

He stood there for what felt like forever, replying every moment he spent with Tina inside his head. What was he missing? What was it that made Tina fall in love with him? Was he just that oblivious to never realize her feelings?

One thing was for sure, he didn't expect Tina to say that. He didn't expect Tina to just give up, but she had. He felt guilty, but somehow... he didn't feel bad. He just didn't return the feelings. What could he do?

He could at least listen to her. He could get his case, get ______, and get out of New York.

He blinked a couple of times, trying to get himself back into the real world. Out of his head, back into reality. Back to having to catch a boat that left in five minutes.

_Five minutes._

Realizing what the time was, Newt panicked. "______!" he shouted, running towards what was once his room. Or, at least, the room he was staying in. He threw open, his case, sticking half his body in, not going all the way in. What can you say? He was in a hurry. Seeing ______ just sitting on his hammock, he called out her name again. "______!" he called out.

Hearing his voice made her jump. Everything had been so silent before. She turned to see Newt half-in his case, hanging upside down. "Newt – you startled me. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine now, Tina left. However, everything will _not_ be fine if we don't leave soon. Our boat is set to depart in five minutes."

_______'s eyes widened. "Five minutes?" she shouted, jolting up. Would they even have the time to run to the docks and get on their boat?

"Yes, we need to hurry!" Newt shouted, reaching his hand out towards her. She ran up and took his hand, and he pulled her out of the case quickly. Maybe even too quickly.

Because their combined force sent them crashing out of the case, ______ landing right on top of Newt. It was like the first day they met, except now it was reversed.

Newt's face turned red. "Sorry," he told her. "Didn't mean to pull you out so hard. I just thought it would be quicker." He tore his eyes away from his, looking where he always did: her lips.

"It's fine," she mumbled, looking away from him too. Her face was starting to turn red when she snapped back into their situation. "Anyways, we need to get going. _Five minutes!"_ she exclaimed, then looked at the clock. "Three minutes now! Oh god, we're going to miss the boat!" She stood up quickly, running and grabbing her stuff.

Newt stood up too. He knew one way that they could make it there on time, but he was hesitant to mention it to ______. After all, she had such a bad reaction last time.

But in this situation, what choice did they have?

______ came running back into the room, looking at Newt. "I hope you're a fast runner, because we're going to have to run faster than we have in our entire lives."

"We still might not even make it if we run," Newt told her, then paused. "We're going to have to apparate."

_______'s face paled. She knew it was probably the only way, but remembering the way it made her feel before, she almost got dizzy just thinking about it. Newt recognized this, and continued talking. "It might be better than last time. I promise I'll try to make it better for you," he offered, but he wasn't quite sure how to do that. Maybe if he held her closer to him, it wouldn't be as bad.

"Alright... okay..." ______ whispered, gripping her things harder and stepping towards Newt. He held out his arm to her and she wrapped her own around it, holding it tighter than last time. Now that she knew what it was like, she was a little scared to do it again.

But how else were they going to catch their boat?

Newt pulled his arm in, pulling ______ closer to him in the process. "Right then" he held up his wand. "Let's go."

He swished his wand, and as they were thrown into apparition again, ______ thought that it felt _worse_ this time than before. Perhaps it was because the thought of it already made her dizzy before it happened, or maybe it was because she psyched herself out before they went in. Whatever it was, it was worse than she remembered. In all her dizziness, she almost let go of Newt, but before she could, they were back in the real world, on solid ground.

As soon as they landed, ______ dropped her luggage and almost fell right over. "______!" Newt called out, dropping his case and catching her quickly. This is why he didn't want to apparate, but he did, and now they were going to make it. _If_ ______ could walk, that is.

"Hm?" she hummed, grabbing Newt for balance. She didn't even dare open her eyes, she already knew her head wouldn't stop spinning for a while. She thought for a moment she might even get sick, and there was a terrible feeling in her stomach.

"We're almost there ______, we just have to get on the boat." He reassured her. He could tell she was doing even worse than the first time, and seeing as they were about to miss their boat, he didn't know what to do. He only had one idea, and by the looks of it, he was going to have to do use it "Sorry ______," he began. "Please excuse me."

"What do you mean sorry?" she asked, trying to open her eyes. Before she could though, she felt a kind of weightlessness. Newt had picked her up bridal-style, setting her luggage on top of her. It was slightly inconvenient, but he had to. He was less worried about the inconvenience, however, and more embarrassed of the position he was in. It was _extremely_ improper for him to be holding her like he was, but under the circumstances, he didn't have much choice. She couldn't really walk without falling at the moment, and they had a boat to catch.

Newt walked to their boat as fast as he could, looking for the numbers along the side. As he walked up the landing, he knew that the person taking tickets was staring at him. He could feel it. "Long story," he said when he got to the top. "The tickets are in my pocket, I assure you. I can't get them out, really." He felt embarrassed even further as he turned sideways, tilting his head towards his jacket pocket.

The man gave him a strange look as he reached into Newt's jacket pocket. _This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever done,_ Newt thought to himself. The man examined the tickets before punching holes into them, awkwardly slipping them back into Newt's pocket. "Thank you," Newt said, walking past the ticket man.

As they got on the boat, Newt gently started putting ______ back on the ground, still holding onto her shoulders for support. "Are you alright? Can you stand?" he asked her worriedly. Before anything, he was worried about her.

She nodded slowly. "That was dreadful," she told him. "I never want to have to do that again.'

"Well, let's hope we'll never have to do it again." As he began to let go of her, he saw her sway, almost falling again before he grabbed her. "You need to lie down," he told her, one arm around her as his free hand held her arm gently. He looked around before spotting a worker on deck. "Ah, excuse me!" he called out to them.

The worker walked up to the two of them. "How can I help you?" she asked with a smile.

"I was wondering if we could get a cabin? As soon as possible, please, she's not feeling too well."

The worker nodded. "Follow me," she told them, and they walked down the hall. Newt didn't loosen his grip on ______ for a second, worried she might fall over any second. She finally had mustered the strength to open her eyes, and though she saw spots, she kept them open the best she could.

The worker led them down a hall before finally opening the door to a small, one-bed cabin. "Here you go," she told them with a smile.

Newt stepped into the room, sitting ______ on the bed. He hadn't noticed at this point that the room only had one bed, and since it was so small, they'd probably have to end up sharing the bed. Right now, all he was focused on was ______'s welfare. "Lie down," he told her in a soothing voice. "I'll get you some medicine like last time."

He almost forgot all about the worker before she spoke again. "Anything else I can get you two?"

"No, I think that'll be it. Thank you," he told her, dismissing her with a smile.

The worker turned to leave before she stopped ad turned back around. "By the way, I just want to say that you two are an adorable couple."

"Couple?" Newt asked suddenly, a blushing coming onto his cheeks. It was in that moment he realized that's probably what they looked like. After all, he carried her onto the boat, and held onto her all the way walking to the cabin. Then there was the cabin itself. He had been so caught up in making sure ______ was okay that he didn't notice until now that it was a _one bedroom_ cabin.

"Yes, you two are absolutely darling. You are a couple, right?" she asked, now unsure. If she had given them a one-bedroom and they weren't a couple, she might have to deal with some seriously angry customers. It had happened to her before. Especially since it was usually improper to even stay at someone's house if you two were seeing each other.

"Sure, I mean, yes," Newt told her, nodding. He didn't want to make things awkward and have to explain why he was acting the way he was, and he didn't want to have to move ______ to another room. The best thing for her right now was to lay down. So, instead, he just agreed with the worker, smiling at her. ______ was so out of it, her headache taking up so much of her thinking that she didn't even realize what was going on.

"Okay, making sure. If you need me, I'll be on deck." The worker told him, turning and walking out of the room.

Newt turned his attention back to ______. "Is the dizziness going down?" he asked her.

"Hm?" she asked, thinking about the question. "A little bit. Gosh, how do you do that all the time?"

"Believe it or not, it gets better the more you do it. I'm going to get you some medicine," he told her, opening his suitcase and going in. She opened her eyes again, looking around the small cabin room. The world was still spinning, and she felt as the boat began to leave the dock.

Newt came back up a few minutes later with some pills and a glass of water. "Here," he said, giving ______ the items. She sat up slowly, taking them and drinking form her mug.

"Thank you," she told him. She looked around the room. "Did they give us a one-bed cabin?" she asked, realizing where they were.

"Yes," he told her. "She thought we were a couple. Anyways, you can have the bed. I'll sleep in my suitcase."

"Oh, alright," she nodded. _They thought we were a couple?_ ______ thought. She could see why, seeing how they came onto the boat could probably confuse a lot of people.

Suddenly, the chill of the room hit her, sending goosebumps up her arms. Newt noticed this. "Here," he said, taking off his coat. "You should probably rest. Already having motion sickness and then getting on a boat doesn't mix well, you should get some rest. It'll be warmer in my suitcase, so you can have my coat."

He leaned over and wrapped ______ in his coat, pulling it closed and buttoning it. ______ subconsciously smiled. She loved the smell of the jacket, and it was already warm from Newt wearing it. It was soft too, and she could just melt into it. "Thank you," she said, looking right into Newt's eyes for the first time since they fell on the floor earlier.

Newt felt his face flush a little and tried his best not to look away, not to break this eye contact. "No problem," he told her. "Now, lay down. You need to get some rest."

"Alright, alright, I'm laying down," she said with a yawn. Newt had added a little bit of some drowsing medicine into her pills from earlier, he already knew that it would be best if she got some rest.

She laid down on the bed, pulling the covers over her and closing her eyes. In just a few short minutes, she was fast asleep. Newt stayed by her side until she did so, making sure she didn't get sick or anything. He really did care about her.

Suddenly, as he thought that, he was thrown back to earlier. To what Tina said.

She had got him thinking. Thinking about how he felt towards ______. She had a point, Newt had been calling ______ his friend, but he didn't do all of this for Jacob. It didn't even cross his mind. He felt bad about letting Jacob step out into the rain and letting him lose his memory, but he knew it needed to be done. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't imagine ever doing that to ______. The more and more he thought about it, the less it made sense.

Was ______ _really_ just a friend to him?

The answer was simple. At least, to anyone watching on the outside, like Tina. She could see it in his eyes. She wasn't just a friend to him, he cared about her so much more. Even while Newt had trouble placing his own feelings, Tina already knew how he felt towards ______.

Newt looked over at ______, who was still sleeping. A small smile crept onto his face. "I can't wait to show you Britain. You're going to love it."

He stood up, opening his case. He stood in front of it for a second, about to go inside. He hesitated for a moment, looking back at ______. Without really thinking about it first, he walked over to her and leaned over her head, kissing it softly. She stirred slightly, and Newt drew back, realizing what he just did. His face was redder than it ever had been, but as ______ shifted slightly in her sleep, Newt let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Get a good rest," he whispered, and a smile on his lips, he descended into his case.

At this moment, everything seemed perfect.

They had no idea that someone was watching them. Someone neither of them have met, but were going to very soon.

Someone who had heard of a wizard with a case full of fantastic beasts.


	14. 14

______ woke up that next morning with Newt at the foot of the bed, writing in a small journal. As soon as she sat up, Newt turned his attention towards her. "Excellent, you're up," he said with a small smile, closing his notebook. "You slept through the rest of the day yesterday. I guess you really weren't feeling well," he noted. "They said we should be there by about three o'clock."

______ nodded, taking all this new information in. She didn't remember feeling _too_ bad except for dizziness, but Newt didn't want to tell her that he may have accidentally added too much drowsiness into what he gave her. he always liked to experiment with potions and elixirs, trying them out whenever he had the chance. He knew what he gave her had a drowsing property, but man, he didn't expect it to last that long. Just like when he gave Swooping Evil's venom to Frank, he knew it would have _some_ effect, but he didn't know how much. He was amazed that the memory wipe on New York even worked.

It was _very_ dangerous. _Highly_ experimental. Kind of a _miracle_ that it worked, really.

______ yawned and stretched, looking around the room. It felt really cramped all of a sudden, and she wanted desperately to get out. How could people stay in one room so long when they're on a boat? She looked over at Newt. "Do you want to go get some breakfast."

"Just what I was thinking," he told her. "I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting long," she said, getting up. "Well, I'll just get changed and then we'll go."

"Oh, right," Newt said, turning away from her as she changed. It was something simple, not far off from what she usually went with. She took off his jacket, setting in on the bed while she changed.

She walked behind Newt, slipping his jacket onto him from behind and taking his arm. "Ready to go, darling?" she asked in a sweet voice with a smile.

" _Darling?_ " Newt asked, his eyebrows raised, and a slight blush coming onto his face. ______ had never called him that before, and hearing it come out of her shocked him.

"Well, they do think we're a couple," she told him. "And it would be strange if we stayed in a one-bed room and didn't act like a couple. So, we might as well keep the act up, right?"

"Oh, right," Newt said, nodding. _Right,_ he thought. _They think we're a couple, so we need to act like one. It's just a farce._

So why did he secretly wish it wasn't one?

They walked out of the room, Newt's face still faintly tinted pink. Not enough for ______ to notice it, but just enough for him to know it was there. As they got to the top deck, they each grabbed some food from what they had to offer and sat at a table on the deck, closer to the edge of the boat. Newt looked out into the ocean, and ______ decided to strike up conversation. "So, are there any magical beasts in the ocean?" she asked with curiosity, a small smile at the thought of it.

"There are," Newt told her. "There's just a few that I can think of, but I'm sure there's an entire network of undiscovered magical ocean beasts. Maybe even some that Muggles think are normal."

"There might be a few animals that are like that. Some we think are normal, but are actually magical. What does a beast have to have to be counted as magical anyways?"

"There's an entire list they gave me a while ago at the Ministry, but since then, I've lost it. I do pride myself on being able to tell them apart though," Newt told her, a small smile on his face. "They just seem to be on a different frequency from everyone else, you know? That's how wizards can pick out Muggles too. Some wizards claim to be able to smell it, but I just kind of feel it. Everyone's on a different frequency." Newt looked over at ______, who was looking at him with big, wondrous, shining eyes. He blushed slightly. "Sorry, didn't mean to ramble on there."

"No, it's fine," she told him. "I like hearing you talk. I've told you before and I'll tell you again, you don't annoy me."

Newt smiled. Just those four words put him on a level he could describe as euphoric. "You don't annoy me" was music to his ears. He didn't let many people know, but being called annoying was one of the biggest things that brought him down. It wasn't that they just got bored of him, he was bothering people just for being himself. He was annoying just for talking about what he was passionate about. When he was with ______ though, she would always listen to him with open ears and the most interested expression. She truly was interested in all he had to say, and she was an excellent listener.

It was one of the many things he absolutely adored about her.

They passed most of their time just sitting there, on the deck, chatting about everything and nothing. He would talk to her about the wizarding world, and she would talk to him about little instances from her life. Each one was interested in the other, neither of them ever getting bored or annoyed. It was perfect.

"I should take you to my childhood home once we're there," he told her. "I helped my mother raise fancy hippogriffs and other magical creatures there. I think you'd like it."

"Fancy hippogriffs?" ______ asked. "What's the difference between a fancy hippogriff and a regular one?"

"Well, really, it's in the temperament. Fancy hippogriffs are just natural smarter and better-mannered than regular ones. Doesn't always mean they're better though. I've met some regular hippogriffs that could understand me better than fancy ones."

"Do you still have fancy hippogriffs there?"

"I don't think so. The place has been vacant for years, I believe. They moved out and away, but they didn't have the heart to sell it, so I stay there sometimes. Since I've been moving from country to country the past few years, I've just been living there. There's no use renting an apartment if you're barely ever there."

"I guess you have a point there."

As ______ finished her sentence, the boat pulled into the bay. "We're here already?" Newt asked. "I didn't think so much time passed."

"Time flies when you're having fun, I suppose. Let's get our stuff," ______ proposed, standing up. Heading to their room, they made sure they had everything before getting off the boat.

"You have your passport, right?" Newt asked her, double-checking.

"Yeah, I have to go through a certain line for it, right?"

"Yes, it's right over there. I'll hail us a taxi while you do that."

The two separated, and Newt looked around, searching for a taxi. Surprisingly, though, a taxi seemed to find him first. "Do you need a ride?" the driver asked from his window. Newt must've looked really lost.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for someone. Is that alright?"

"Of course, just get in the cab when they're here," the driver told him.

 _Wow,_ Newt thought. _That was easier than I remembered._ Standing by the cab, he watched the line as ______ migrated from the back to the front in a span of five minutes. She gave them her passport, let them check her things, then was on her way. She sped-walked over to Newt. "Sorry," she apologized. "Didn't think it would take that long."

"It's fine," he told her, moving aside and opening the car door for her. They sat in the back, their things at their feet, and as Newt told the driver the directions, they were off.

"So, we're going to your childhood home then?" ______ asked, looking over at Newt.

For once, he didn't seem to have his head in the cloud out the window, and turned his attention towards her. "Yes," he told her.

"How far is it."

"Can't remember. Maybe an hour or two?"

"Not that long away then. Time passed so quickly earlier, so this should be a breeze."

As they got engaged in conversation, they neglected checking the time, and as the driver got further and further away from their destination, neither of them noticed. They were too involved in talking to each other. It wasn't until ______ noticed how dark it was outside a red flag was raised for her. "How long has it been?" she asked Newt. "It's already dark outside."

"Is it?" Newt asked, shock in his voice as he turned and looked out the window. That's when something hit him. They had been driving for what seemed like hours, and he didn't recognize the terrain at all. He had no idea where they were. He looked up front towards the driver. "Where are you going?" He asked, trying not to sound rude. "This isn't where we're trying to go at all."

The next events happened so fast, it was hard for anyone to comprehend them.

The driver pulled over to the side of the road, the car screeching at the sudden halt. Before Newt could get out a word to ask what was going on, they whipped around, a ready wand already in their hands. "Stupefy!" he shouted, and a blue beam of light turned and hit Newt.

He was unconscious in seconds, barely able to register he had been hit with a stunning spell before he fell over.

The driver payed no attention to the fully conscious ______ who sat there, her mouth hanging open. Before she had time to properly react, she saw what the driver's next move was: he was taking a lunge for Newt's case.

"No!" she shouted, diving for the case and grabbing it before he could. The driver, or whoever this really was, became agitated. "You stupid Muggle!" he shouted. "Let go!" As he pulled out his wand to stun her too, someone else came along. Someone who had been there the entire time.

Pickett jumped out of ______'s pocket, lunging himself at the wizard. As he hit the wizard's face and began clawing his eyes, the wand was pointed elsewhere in the car, and ______ just barely escaped getting stunned. In this brief moment while Pickett attacked the wizard, she turned towards Newt, shaking him. "Newt, you have to wake up! We're in trouble, he's going to take your-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence.

The wizard had pried Pickett off his face, blood oozing from the scratches, and one of his eyes looked like he'd never to be able to see out of it again. If he wasn't already mad before, he was infuriated now.

And he planned on taking it out on someone.

Throwing Pickett to the back of the car, Pickett let out a small, heart-breaking whine. "You!" the angry wizard shouted. "You and that case are coming with me."

"Over my dead body!" ______ shouted back. She hadn't thought of her words, they just came out, the adrenaline pumping through her.

"That can be arranged."

As those sinister words left the wizards mouth, he grabbed ______ by the neck, and swished his wand, apparating away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is one of my shorter chapters, but it's the set up for what's about to come.
> 
> Just so you guys know, this dark wizard is not a cannon character, and instead one of my own creation. It let's me write better that way.
> 
> I'm going to have one hell of a time writing the next five chapters.
> 
> I hope you're all ready for things to start getting fun.


	15. 15

Newt didn't know what had happened, but when he recovered a few minutes later from the stunning spell, panic struck him as soon as he noticed ______ was missing. "______!" Newt exclaimed, sitting up quickly. As he reached for his side, he noticed something else was missing too.

_His case._

"No, no, no, no, no," he began looking around, not able to say or think much else. "This can't be happening, oh Merlin, where is anything, where is ______, where is my case where is-"

He turned around and met eyes with a small creature.

"Pickett!" Newt exclaimed, grabbing the small Bowtruckle. He could tell something had happened to him, Pickett looked hurt. Luckily, it wasn't too bad though. "What happened?" Newt asked, desperately confused. He was scared, and every second he spent not know what was going on was another second his fear of what may have happened deepened.

In a series of small noises and large gestures, Pickett was able to re-enact his version of what happened to Newt, hoping he'd understand. Newt was usually very good at understanding Pickett's storytelling. "So, a wizard stunned me, tried to take my case, ______ stepped in, you were attacked and they went where?" Newt asked, understanding the greater majority of the story. Picket made a large gesture with his arms, swishing one hand and spinning, trying to gesture someone apparating away.

"They disappeared? No, they apparated!" Newt exclaimed. _That's just perfect, isn't it? No sign of ______, she gets sick apparating, and we have nothing to go off of._ Newt thought. _How am I going to find her?_

Then, an idea popped into his head.

"We've got to get going," Newt said, and Pickett jumped onto his shoulder, just like old times. He was already developing his plan, but there was one problem.

It required a beast, and he had no case.

He stepped out of the car, running a hand through his hair. "Right then, where are we? I suppose we're still in England... middle of nowhere in the forest..." he began to think. There were magical beasts everywhere if you knew how to look for them, and boy, did Newt know how to look for them. That's all he's been doing for the past years. What kind of beast could help him track someone that would be in the forest of England?

As soon as he thought of that question, one beast came into mind: a Crup.

Though uncommon, they could sometimes be found in forest areas of England. Usually runaways or wild ones, as Crups _are_ usually owned by wizards. Though he knew it was a long stretch, he thought it might be his only shot.

Newt cupped his hand around his mouth, and as best as he could remember, started doing the Crup's call. It had been a while since he came across one, so he was hoping his memory served him well. He walked around the forest, calling out for one. He just needed one, one would be enough to track her and find his case.

After what seemed like hours of searching (it was really ten minutes – but time passes painfully slow when you're worried), Newt thought he finally heard a call that _didn't_ come from him. Before he knew it, a small Crup was running out of the forest, towards him. "Aha!" he exclaimed, and as he did, the Crup pounced on him. You see, Crups acted like domesticated muggle dogs, so they were _really_ friendly. As much as Newt would usually sit there for a while and become friendly with him, he was in a hurry.

"Alright boy, I have a job for you," Newt began, taking off his coat. It still faintly smelt of ______ from when she had worn it overnight on the boat. _Thank Merlin for that,_ Newt thought. He put the coat up to the Crup's nose. "I need you to smell out the girl who was wearing this. Do you think you can do that?"

The Crup smelt the jacket, and all the time, Newt was holding his breath. He was hoping she would be close, if she was too far away, this idea wouldn't work at all. For every second the Crup spent smelling the coat, he seemed to reach a new level of anxiety. _Please be okay,_ Newt kept thinking in his head. _Please, at the very least, please still be alive._

Dark wizards were never good, and the fact that one took ______ was even worse. While Britain was slacker when it came to laws with Muggle and Wizard relationships, that didn't mean every wizard was approving. A lot of wizards still had the "pureblood or no blood" ideals. Even half-bloods were looked down upon, and if you were a mudblod...

Your life was a living hell.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the Crup lifted his head from the jacket and barked, looking in a new direction. "Yes! Yes, you've got it!" Newt exclaimed happily. "Now, let's go! Lead me to her!"

As they began to ran, Newt had a new feeling: hope. Hope she was still alive, hope he'd find her, hope they could get out of all this...

He was so invested in thinking about ______'s safety, he almost forgot about the fact they took his case too.

 _What could he possibly want with my case?_ Newt thought. There were lots of things, and they all worried him, but he wasn't sure what _he_ wanted with his case. Why lure them all the way out into the woods to take newt's case? Why not just take it once they were in the taxi and leave? Was there some sort of larger scheme to being all the way out here?

He ran alongside the Crup until he ran right through a gate with a sign on it. Newt slowed for a moment, reading the sign. "Enter at Your Own Risk!!!"

Well, there was no turning back. Too much at stake to even _think_ about doing that.

The Crup led Newt to double doors of what looked like an abandoned castle. The Crup sat there, wagging his tail and looking at Newt. "Thank you," Newt told him, kneeling down and petting him. "You should probably get out of here. I have no idea if it's safe in there for you."

Standing up, newt turned to the doors, taking a deep breath and pushing them open.

The hallways were decorated with cobwebs and candles, looking like no one even lived there, or if they did, they didn't care about cleaning up. There was a large staircase that led to another level, and it looked expensive. The place was immense, and Newt wouldn't be surprised if it really _was_ an abandoned castle.

Newt began walking, listening for any kind of sound. He didn't want to get lost in the castle, and if he just listened for a sign, everything would probably end up better. If he got lost, he might never find ______. He kept quiet, trying not to make his presence known. It would be better for everyone if he could sneak up and save her.

That idea, however, was tossed away seconds later when a distressing noise was made coming from a lower level.

He recognized the noise as a distorted, loud scream. He knew it had to be ______, and it broke his heart to hear her scream like that. The scream held so much pain inside it, and it was prolonged, not quick.

As he heard her scream, he yelled back, "______!" He dashed to where the noise was coming from, and as he made his way downstairs, he saw the most heart-breaking sight he's ever seen, or probably, he thought, ever will see.


	16. 16

______ was lying on the floor, looking beat to hell, tied up, her back to him. She didn't even hear him come in, and he could hear her crying, even as she was trying to be quiet.

 _What is going on?_ Newt thought. He didn't know what to do at first, he just stood there, in shock. He felt like someone had just put a knife though his chest, and his heart was in his throat. This was worse than he could've imagined. This was the last thing he'd ever want to see. Even though his throat felt tight and his chest hurt, Newt finally managed to say something. "______!" he exclaimed, and he ran over to her, lying on the floor.

Her crying, at the moment, was the only indication she was still alive. She was so hurt, so shocked to see Newt, she didn't have anything to say. Looking into his eyes, knowing that maybe what just happened was over, she began to cry all over again. She couldn't get any words out through the sobs.

Newt examined her physical wounds. Her face was scratched and beat to hell, and her blouses arms had been ripped so they only went to her forearms. When he saw what had been written on her arm, he wanted to start crying with her. He wanted to hug her, to tell her she was okay now, to assure her he was there.

The word "Muggle" had been written on her arm in horrible, sloppy handwriting.

Newt didn't want to ask what else had been done to her. He wanted to just get her out of here, and he wanted to see whoever could've done this. This was the first time he had ever felt so protective over her, so angry at something someone did. Nothing compared to this. He didn't want to hear what she had to endure while he was unconscious and looking for her – but she felt like she had to tell him.

Her sobs had finally started to die down, and she seemed to be able to talk through them now. "Newt, I, I..." she began.

"Sh," he told her, sitting her up. "Take it slow. Don't hurt yourself."

She had one question on her mind: she needed to know what that spell was the dark wizard had used on her. He had said it over and over, letting it affect her in waves, letting it torture her. The pain it brought was consuming, and whenever it hit, it was as if pins, needles, and knifes were being pieced into every square inch of her body. He would write one letter, say the spell, write another letter, say the spell...

"Newt, what is 'crucio?'" she asked. The word rolled off her tongue with pain, as if just saying it would bring the pain back. As if her saying it would make her experience it all over again.

Newt's eyes widened at hearing the word. He recognized it as Cruciatus Curse, one of the Unforgiveable Curses. Just using it once would guarantee you a trip to Azkaban, the wizarding prison. It wasn't something you used lightly, it wasn't something people could so soon get over...

It wasn't something he'd wish upon even his worst enemy.

"It's an unforgiveable curse," he began to tell her in a slow voice. He was afraid if he spoke at any other tone, it might hurt her. He wasn't sure how, but he feared it. "It tortures its victim with unbearable pain. People have been known to be driven into insanity with it."

Just at hearing this piece of information, ______ started crying all over again. Newt, not knowing what ese to do, pulled her into a hug. "Hey, hey, listen. We're going to get out of here, we're going to leave, and we're never going to come back. We're going to forget this ever happened." He told her.

That's what he wanted to happen. Looking at her arm, though, he knew that it would scar. He knew she was going to forever be reminded that she is a Muggle, as if it was the worst thing a person could be. As if being a Muggle was like being dirt that people could, and would, step all over, like it meant you were worthless.

______ felt so weak, and she was mad at herself for crying. _Come on,_ she thought. _You're better than this. I know you are._ Her cries began to slow, and as they slowly came to a stop, she looked up at Newt. "He took your suitcase upstairs," she told him. "I have no idea what he wants to do with it, but I _know_ it's bad. He wants to do something with one of your creatures, and that's as far as I know."

There was a sudden wave of anger coursed through him. He needed to find whoever this dark wizard was, he wanted to see him being locked up. He wanted to see him rot for what he did to ______. He had never felt so sure of something. He wouldn't let him put a hand on any of his creatures, that was for sure. He couldn't let him have that kind of power. Although he knew nothing in that case was dangerous, that didn't mean nothing _could_ be dangerous. Any one of those creatures could put up a mad fight if they were provoked.

Kind of like Newt himself.

"Let's go, then," he said, standing up. He offered her a hand and she took it, pulling her up. He was amazed she could even stand after all of that, but considering their situation, he wouldn't be surprised if it was entirely adrenaline-induced.

He didn't let go of her hand as they dashed out of the room, going back up the stairs, then finding the other flight and going up it. He feared that if he let her hand go for even one second, she'd get separated from him. He'd lose her again. He couldn't have that, not now, not ever.

The top floor was like one long hallway, leading to double doors. Just looking down it was enough to strike an eerie feeling into Newt, and he squeezed ______'s hand. "Stay close," he told her, and with one hand, he pulled out his wand. They crept down the hallway, trying the door.

What was beyond it was a strange sight.

The room was a strange shade of green, but at this point the wallpaper had been torn to hell and you mostly only saw the bare wall behind it. There was a row of tables, each with tubes. The tables themselves looked dusty while everything else looked like it had just been used. It gave Newt a bad vibe, and it made him pull ______ closer to him. "I don't see my suitcase," he told her. "Are you sure it's up here?"

"Positive," she told him. "I remember being in this exact room before..." she trailed off, but Newt got the idea. Where was his suitcase? Even further, where was this dark wizard?

Well, he didn't have to wonder about either question for long.

"I see you found the Muggle," a voice rang out, and Newt spun around, coming face to face with who he _guessed_ was the dark wizard. Then again, who else could it be? "Frail thing tried to put up a fight when I took this," he held up Newt's suitcase. "Of course, she was aided by that stupid little creature of yours. The thing got the better of my eye."

Newt looked over the wizards face with no sympathy for him. His only thought was to thank Pickett, he had tried his best to protect ______. Exactly like he wanted him to. Newt pointed his wand at his case, and as though the wizard read his mind, he whipped his own out faster than anything Newt had seen. "Expelliarmus."

Newt's wand flew out of his hand and on the ground, and before he could make a grab for it, the wizard had it under his foot. He rolled it towards him, picking it up and looking at it. "You think I'm stupid? I'm not letting you get your case back _that_ easy." As he said this, he held each side of Newt's wand, snapping it in half.

"You're going to have to try a little harder than that," the wizard spat, throwing the crushed wand pieces at the ground.

"What do you want?" Newt asked the wizard. "Who even _are_ you?"

"Your case. You certainly own an interesting one, Mister Scamander. As soon as it entered New York, it was spread all around about what it was full of." He said, bringing the case in front of his face and looking at it. "They call me Maverick. While I'd love to stay and chat, I've got things to do. Oh, this has barely even started. I might still need you though, so for now..." he pointed his wand at Newt. "I'll just need to distract you."

"I'm not easily going to just turn my back now," Newt told him.

"I know. That's why I need a damn good distraction." Maverick was still pointing his wand at Newt, and before he could get another word in, he uttered a spell.

An unforgiveable one.

"Imperio."

Before he knew it, Newt was undergoing the effects of the Imperius Curse. He didn't say a word before he let go of the hand of a confused ______. "What is going on? Newt?" she called out, no longer worried about Maverick, but for what he did to Newt.

"He can't hear you, you idiotic Muggle," Maverick spat at her. "He's under my command."

She turned towards Maverick, anger in her veins. "What are you going to do him?" she shouted, going up to the wizard. He easily pushed her away with one hand, still using his free one to control Newt.

"It's less what I'm going to do to him, and more what I'm going to make him do to _you,"_ the wizard told her.

She gave him a confused look, fear registering in her eyes. She didn't want to know what was on Maverick's sick, twisted mind. Whatever he was going to make Newt do, she feared it. She remembered back to what happened to her before. The curse, the carving...

"Why so scared?" he asked her, a sick smile on his face. "I'm sure you're going to _love_ this," he told her.

"How could I love anything you'd do?"

"Because this is simply just a distraction. Nothing more, nothing less. However, it'll prove to be quite... shameful." He said. He led Newt to one of the tables, picking up a full vile of some pealy, shining potion. "This is what they call _amortentia,_ " Maverick told her. "It makes the victim obsessed with the inflictor. It can make the drinker excited, dangerously unstable, gives them obsession... the perfect distraction if it's inflicted on someone you care about."

Newt approached ______, a look of distraction in his eyes. He had no idea what was happening, what he was doing...

He wouldn't even remember doing this.

"No," ______ shook her head. "I won't let you have Newt drink that potion."

"Who said he was going to be the one drinking it?"

Still led by Maverick, Newt pinned ______ against the wall and opened the vile. The smell of the potion hit ______'s nose, and the smells coming from it almost calmed her. She smelt warm coffee, like she had with Newt every morning in New York, sea water, and something else, something that smelt close to her too...

Newt's jacket?

"Don't do this," ______ begged, looking over at Maverick.

"Didn't you learn anything?" he asked her. "Begging doesn't get you anywhere."

______ tore her eyes away from him, looking at Newt. _It's okay,_ she thought. _I know this isn't your fault. Whatever happens next, it's not your fault._

"Bottoms up," Maverick said, and Newt brought the potion up to ______'s lips, making her drink it.


	17. 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was heavily inspired by "One Kiss" from a musical called Bare - I recommend checking it out!

As soon as Maverick knew that ______ had taken the potion, he let go of the curse on Newt. It was as if he had just woken up. The last thing he remembered was Maverick pointing his wand at him, and now, he was standing in front of ______, her against the wall. "What is happening?" Newt asked, looking from ______ to Maverick.

"Try dealing with her now," Maverick said with a sickly smirk, grabbing Newt's case and apparating before Newt could ask anything. _What is that supposed to mean?_ He had so many questions.

Newt turned to ______, and almost immediately, he knew there was something wrong. She looked pale and sickly, like she did after they would apparate. "______, are you alright? What did he do to you?" Newt asked, worry and panic in his voice. He can't have missed helping her again, and he hoped that she was fine. That it was his imagination. That there was a reasonable answer for the gap in his memory.

"Nothing," she replied in a sweet voice Newt never heard her use. "Hey, can I tell you something?"

Newt gave her a strange look. "Right now? Shouldn't we do it later? Maverick got away, and we need to find where he went."

"It won't take long," she assured him. "Besides, a minute can crawl by when there's something you want _real_ bad."

Newt raised an eyebrow. What was she talking about? "Alright then... what is it?" he asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time," she told him. "For us to be alone, no distractions, no one else around who might come barging in."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "We were alone at your apartment. ______, what's wrong?" he asked, looking into her eyes. Suddenly, he was enchanted by how pretty they were, and they were completely focused on him. He always admired them, and even now, they had a special gleam to them. Getting nervous, he drifted his eyes down to her lips.

"Nothing's wrong," she said, taking a step towards him, grabbing the loose ends of a tie he never bothered to do. _I beg to differ,_ Newt thought. _Something strange is going on here._

"______, we really need to get going," he told her, but he didn't even move. It was as if he was stuck there. Nothing was holding him back but himself.

"But why?" she asked, then bit her lip. She was still looking into his eyes, but he was focused in on her lips. "There's something else I want to tell you."

"What is it?" He asked. Everything else was forgotten, all he wanted to do was know why ______ was acting like this. He could tell she wasn't acting like herself, or at least, that's what he thought. She was being flirty, something he never noticed her doing.

And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued.

"Are you scared?" she asked suddenly. She noticed he wasn't really looking at her, or at least, not in her eyes. This was a habit of his, but right now, under the amortentia, she was just saying the first things that came to mind.

"Why would I be scared?" he asked, her, still looking at her lips. He wasn't scared, more just shocked. He wasn't sure what was happening, and he didn't like not knowing. "What do you want to tell me?"

She took a deep breath in. "I want you to kiss me," she told him, now pulling on the loose ends of his tie, bringing him closer to her in the process. "I've wanted you to kiss me for so long."

Newt's eyes widened, and he tried taking a step back, but she just stepped closer to him in the process. Right now, he just wanted to think without her eyes staring him down. Those eyes he might not be able to say no to, but first, he had some questions. Mainly just one big one that he finally asked: "Why?"

"Newt," she began, in a regular voice now. Almost like she was talking, not the amortentia. "I really like you. You're sweet, you're passionate, you're _handsome,_ you've been there for me, you saved my life, you know how to make me smile..." she started to trail off. "I could go on for a long time just talking about you."

"Why right here? Why now?" he asked. He wasn't sure what to do. Was she asking him to kiss her, or was she simply telling him this? _You daft man,_ he thought to himself. _Why would she tell you that if she didn't want you to kiss her?_

At least, that's what he was hoping.

"Why not?" she asked. "Why question it anyways? I think you feel the same way."

"What do you mean?" he asked, a slight blush coming to his cheeks. It was so strange to think this was actually happening. Was it actually happening? Or was this some kind of weird dream?

Like the dream he had back at her apartment. She felt so close in that one, too.

"I'm not blind, Newt. I've seen what you stare at," she said, smiling a little and laughing. "I've noticed it a few times, not just here. I've always seen you look at my lips, but I never thought it meant anything. That is, until now. Until I realized how much I want you to kiss me."

Newt's face turned red. _I brought this upon myself, haven't I?_ he thought. He'd be lying if he said that it didn't cross his mind before, kissing her. Ever since he had that conversation with Tina, he had been measuring how he really felt about ______. At one point, he thought maybe I he just kissed her, it would help him know. It would give him a better idea on how he held her. He just didn't think she'd ever say it, and he didn't imagine it being anything like this. He fumbled for his words, "I know, I know I stare at you lips a lot, but..." he trailed off.

 _But what?_ He thought. There was no way to end that sentence, she was just right.

"Don't you want to kiss me? Don't you want me just like I want you?" she asked, looking at him with a kind of pleading, shining eyes.

Newt sighed, giving in. Try as he might, he couldn't say no to those eyes. They shined brilliantly at him, and when he looked at them, he didn't want to look away. "One kiss," he told her.

She smiled, and Newt took a deep breath in, calming himself. He was suddenly nervous, but as she looked at him with expecting eyes, he knew there was no going back now.

He leaned towards her, afraid to close his eyes, lest he miss her lips somehow. She closed her eyes, awaiting the moment. Newt closed the gap between the two, and almost forgetting to tilt his head, bumped against her forehead before his lips clashed with hers.

The first thing he noticed was how her lips felt. They were soft and warm, and the moment he put his lips on hers, he felt like he was absorbing her warmth. Her lips tasted faintly of something sweet, though he couldn't place it. It was almost like sugar, but there was more to it. As he thought about it, he closed his eyes, and his breathing seemed to mix with hers until they were breathing at the same pace. He didn't know what to do with his hands, but they seemed to move themselves, placing them at her waist.

 _God, this feels so right,_ Newt thought to himself. He forgot about how strange she was acting, and he was caught up in this one moment.

The second his lips parted from hers, it was almost like the temperature in the room changed. Right as he was about to say something, ______ beat him to it.

Newt said one kiss, but she had other plans.

The smile on her face was brighter than he had ever seen it. "Wow," she said. "I'm so happy, can you feel it?" she asked, leaning close to him again. "Newt, you are all I need, don't let go."

Newt stared at her for a moment, and she stood a little taller, bringing them together again. All the nervousness from earlier seemed to melt away, and Newt just stood there, looking at her. Everything just felt so right somehow, so he didn't argue when she told him to not let go. He held her at her waist, still clasping his hands behind her back like he was hugging her.

______ moved her head upwards, kissing him on the cheek. "One today," she began. She kissed him on the cheek again, and as she began to list 'ones,' she kissed him on a different place on his face, avoiding his lips. He stood there, confused, but on some level of euphoria.

"One tomorrow, one chance connection, one stolen stare, one vison, one forever..." she trailed off, now looking right at his lips.

"One, as you promised, one kiss," she said softly. This time, Newt closed his eyes, awaiting the sensation he got earlier. However, that's when something changed.

That's when the potion began to wear off.

Newt's eyes shot open as he felt her hands leave the loose ends of his tie, and ______ alarmed voice ring though the air.

"Oh god, Newt, _this_ was the distraction."


	18. 18

______ backed away from Newt as he let go of her, confused. What happened? He thought to himself.

He should've trusted his first instinct: something had been wrong.

"I am so sorry," ______ whispered, her hands over her mouth. She could remember everything, and right now, there were so many thoughts and questions flowing through her mind: did I really just do that? Why did I do that? How could I have done that? "I, I didn't mean to, it was that drink,"

"Drink?" Newt asked, more confused than ever. He didn't know what to think right now, he just wanted to know what was going on.

"Yes, there was a drink..." she trailed off, trying to remember the name of it. So many things were going through her head, she had no idea which ones to lace. Getting off that potion felt like she just woke up from a falling dream, the one where you wake up right before you hit the pavement. She was sweating, and it was hard to focus on any thoughts. "I think it was called amore? Amor... amour... am..."

As she trailed off, a name popped into Newt's head. One he remembered learning in Potions class. "Amortentia?" he asked, and ______ nodded. Newt put his head in his hands. Of course it would be, he thought. You were foolish to think she would-

"Newt, what does amortentia do really? Because that was nothing like Maverick explained to me," ______ asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Newt couldn't look at ______ right now, not even at her lips. He was too embarrassed, too humiliated. He slowly began to speak, having trouble finding his words at first. "It's the world's most powerful love potion," he told her. "It can't replicate real love, but it makes the drinker obsessed with the inflictor."

______ put her head in her hands, sighed. "I'm so sorry," she told him again. "I am so, so sorry. He made you give it to me when he put you under that curse. I didn't mean to act that way." She shook her head, wanting to forget about what she just said. What she just did. Besides, there were more pressing matters at hand. "Newt, he was trying to distract us. He's still got your creatures, we need to find him."

Newt nodded, still in a daze. You're a fool to believe that kiss, Newt thought to himself. It was just a potion. He knew she was acting funny, and he was happy, he really was, that now she was out of it. Now it didn't have a claim on her. That didn't mean he wasn't allowed to feel a little down about it, right?

It had felt so right, it had felt so nice. It was as if finally all his feelings had just been realized. Everything made sense, why he connected with her so fast, why he went to such lengths to keep her safe from obliviation... why he trusted her so much. He didn't realize it until after, too much after.

He wanted to say something in that moment. He should've said something in that moment, back after he kissed her. But he was so confused, so happy, still trying to sort things out on his face, he had just stayed silent. He regretted it. He should've said something, anything...

Yet if he had, maybe it wouldn't have turned out well. After all, it was the amortentia talking to him, not her. Not really.

"Where do you think he'd go?" Newt asked her. He didn't think he might still be in the castle, but if he wasn't, he didn't know what else he would do. Where else could they look?

"Maybe the basement, or maybe..." she began, tailing off. "Maybe the roof. I remember seeing a passage way to the roof when I was in the basement."

"The roof?" Newt asked. "Why the roof?"

"I'm thinking he wants something out of your case. Whatever that might be, it might be too large to fit into a room in here."

"Too large?" Newt thought. "I can't think of anything that would be too large..." he trailed off. "Anyways, roof you said? Let's go."

He ran off, ______ following behind him. Neither of them were really making eye contact with each other, too embarrassed to think of what just happened. To even mention it.

They ran to the basement, and ______ hesitated for a moment. She hated being in here, just seeing the place made her want to turn around and run away. Never look back, never remember what happened here. Just looking at the room almost brought back all the pain that she had to go through in this room. Newt noticed this, stopping and turning around to face her.

No matter how humiliated he still felt, he was more concerned for her than how he was feeling.

"______, are you alright?" he asked, looking at her and going near her. She had just stopped in her tracks, looking frozen. When she didn't answer, he just kept talking. "Listen. As soon as we get my creatures back, we'll leave here and never come back. You'll never have to see this place again, we'll never have to speak about it."

"I won't forget it," she told him. "Not ever."

"You don't have to forget it. We just have to get pass it, and I promise, I'll do all I can to help with that. ______, we just need to get that case and get out of here. I don't want to do this without you." He reached a hand out to her, not forcing her to take it. He wouldn't make her come with him if she couldn't, but he didn't want to go up there alone. He really didn't. Just having her by his side made him feel like he had something to fight for, something else besides his case to get that wizard back for.

She met eyes with Newt. She could tell he wasn't lying, and she wanted more than anything to say yes to him. She could tell in his eyes there were no bad intentions, and he meant it. He meant it when he made that promise to her. She took a deep breath and took his hand.

"Let's do this," she told him, and he smiled. That's all he wanted to hear.

He ran over to the door she was talking about. "This is the one that leads to the roof?" he asked her, making sure.

"That's what he was saying, yes," she told him. Newt put his free hand on the knob, pulling it. No luck.

"It's locked," he whispered. He didn't have his wand, but that didn't mean he couldn't try a spell. He was never too good at spells without his wand, that's why he always preferred using his wand, even when apparating. Couldn't hurt to try though, could it? He put his hand over the knob again. "Alohomora," he said, but the spell just seemed to refract off the door. Newt sighed. "He used another spell to keep us out. Unlocking charm isn't working."

"Do you think we can just knock it down?" ______ asked.

"Can't hurt to try," Newt shrugged. He let go of ______'s hand and stood back, looking at the door. "Here goes nothing."

As he ran at the door in full force, he got a very good lesson on why he should just stick to unlocking charms.

The door refused to break down completely, and Newt fell back. "Newt!" ______ exclaimed, running up to him and helping him regain his balance.

"I think I'll just stick to an unlocking charm next time," Newt told her as he steadied herself. "Fat lot of good that did."

"What should we do?" ______ asked, looking at the door. "He's got to be up there."

Newt thought for a moment. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure how much she was going to like it. He didn't like thinking he had to do it, but there really wasn't any other way. "There is one way," Newt began, looking at her.

"What is it?" she asked, looking away from the door and into Newt's eyes. Just one look and it was like she could read her mind. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you sure?" asked in a small voice.

"You don't have to come, ______. You don't need to push yourself." Newt told her. He wanted to put her health before anything else, and knowing how well she reacted to apparating, this wasn't the way to go about keeping her in good shape.

"No, I'm coming with you," she told him, assuring herself. "I can take it, I promise. Come on, let's not waste anymore time." She wrapped her arms around his, like usual when they were apparating.

Newt took a deep breath in. "Alright," he told her, hesitating for a moment. "I should probably mention, I've never done this without a wand before, so I don't know how stable it'll be compared to the times before."

She hesitated for a moment. "Well... um... do you mind then?" she asked, letting go of his arm for a moment. She moved closer to his, wrapping her arms around him, embracing him closely. Newt looked down at her, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks before she explained, "I'd prefer to have a steadier place to hold on then."

"Right," he told her, pausing before they apparated. He wrapped his arms around her too, even resting his head on top of hers for a brief moment. "I should probably do the same. Here goes nothing."

With that, they were thrown into the familiar frenzy. ______ squeezed Newt tighter, closing her eyes and concentrating. She thought that maybe if she concentrated in on one thing, it would help the dizziness. It would help distract her from the spinning world around her, so she picked the closest thing to focus on: Newt. Specifically, how he smelt. He always managed to smell nice, but it was a hard scent to place. He smelt like the outdoors, an old spice, light sweat, a lit fire. He always managed to smell so nice, and it was something you couldn't shake from him. She always liked the way he smelt, even if she hadn't been conscious of it until now.

Suddenly, the spinning stopped, and ______ felt her feet on solid ground again. She stopped squeezing Newt so tightly, but the two still standing there hugging each other, she looked around. "Are you alright?" Newt asked, half out of habit. She always seemed to be sick after apparating, and now doing it without a wand, he hoped it wasn't worse.

"Fine," she told him, still looking around. At first glance, the roof seemed empty, but it couldn't be. She could feel it. That's when she looked down.

Newt's case was lying wide open.

"That can't be good," Newt muttered, following her gaze. He let go of her and took her hand again, running towards the case. He jumped into the case, ignoring the ladder, and reaching the bottom with a loud thud. She followed behind him, sliding down the ladder.

The first room was empty, but messy. You could tell someone had been in there. "That definitely can't be good," ______ spoke aloud.

"Let's go find everyone," Newt said, taking her hand and running. After all, she would get lost in there without him. They ran as fast as they could out of the room, going to check who was missing.

They looked and looked, but Newt couldn't tell who was missing. Everyone seemed to be there, but he knew that couldn't be true. There had to be someone missing, someone he miscounted, someone he missed...

The thought hit him like a train.

"No," he thought as soon as he remembered. "No, no, no, no..." he barraged, not knowing what else to say. That was the only word he could think of, the only emotion to match his situation.

"What is it?" ______ asked. "Newt, who's missing?"

"Swooping evil," he whispered. "He took swooping evil."

"Swooping evil?" ______ asked. "I don't remember you telling me about them."

"I didn't, I feed them separately from everyone else. They're nice and loyal once you tame them, but they do have their name for a reason. In the wrong hands..." he thought back to the mess in his main room, where he kept all his notes.

Where he wrote down every purpose and use for the venom of swooping evil.

"We have to go," Newt said, and just like that, they were running again. ______ had so any questions, but so much seemed to be happening at once, she didn't know what to think. They got back to his main room and climbed the main ladder, getting back onto the roof.

Newt picked up his case, closing it. "We can't have missed him," he spoke. "We can't have, he said before, he said he might need me, he wouldn't just leave..."

"You're right," they heard a voice from behind them, and the two spun around to see Maverick standing maybe ten feet in front of them. "I do need you. I have just one question..."

He pulled something out of his pocket, and Newt recognized it immediately. It was just as he suspected, just as he feared. Maverick was holding swooping evil in its cocoon form.

"How do you get this guy to come out?"


	19. 19

Maverick threw the cocoon up and down in the air as if it was simply a tennis ball, catching it with one hand. Newt stared at him. "I'm not telling you," he shook his head. "Not with him in your hands. Too much of a risk."

Maverick rolled his eyes. "Listen, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way," he said, pulling out his wand. "I think, for the sake of everyone, we should do this the easy way, don't you?"

______ stepped back. She hated it when he used magic. She always loved watching Newt do it, every time she saw Newt use magic, it all seemed so wonderful. However, she did remember him telling her. Telling her that there are some people out there who use and abuse magic completely.

She just never thought she'd have to meet any of them.

"I'm not letting you do anything to that creature," Newt told him. "I'd rather cut off my hand than let you hurt any of my creatures."

Maverick sighed. "Well, at least I can say I tried to take it easy. You're a difficult guy to negotiate with, aren't you Scamander?" He pointed his wand right at Newt and muttered, "Crucio."

Hearing that word again, ______ froze up. She never wanted to hear it again, she never wanted to think about it again. She wouldn't wish it upon anyone.

She would have never, ever wanted Newt to have to experience it.

Newt let out a heart-shattering scream and fell to the ground. It felt like every inch of him was being torn apart, his skin was on fire, it was like a million needles were poking into him on every square inch of his body. "Newt!" ______ cried out, getting on the ground next to him. He couldn't respond, his eyes were shut tight, and he could only continue to keep letting out screams.

"How do you get him to come out?" the wizard yelled, his wand still pointed at Newt. ______ wanted to cry, she would do anything to make this stop. She saw herself in Newt, she saw herself getting tortured.

She couldn't have thought of this in her worst nightmares.

"Stop it!" she screamed at the wizard. "He won't tell you anything, and even if he was going to, he can't speak when you're doing that to him!"

Maverick, surprisingly, let go of his hold on Newt. It didn't last long, though, until she saw why.

Right as Newt stopped his screaming, beginning to open his eyes, he saw as Maverick pointed his wand at ______ and she slid over to him. "You're a _brave_ little Muggle, aren't you?" he asked in a mocking tone. "Or is the word I'm looking for stupid?" He laughed menacingly, his wand under her chin, poking at her painfully. "What do you think you can do to stop me?"

Newt got to his feet as quickly as he could. "Let her go, Maverick," he told him in a cold voice. One she'd never heard Newt use. The only thing it came close to was when he was trying to keep her from being obliviated by Tina, but here, it was different. Completely different. It was almost like Newt was a different person, but he wasn't It was just another side of him.

It only goes to show, if you ever try to hurt someone he's close to, you're not going to come face-to-face with that "kind, innocent, Hufflepuff" label everyone likes to throw on him. He wasn't threatening him verbally, but in his tone of voice, it wasn't a friendly suggestion.

Maverick wasn't shaken in the slightest by this change of character. In fact, he found it funny. He didn't see Newt as a threat at all. He had no wand, no magic, and Newt, try as he might, didn't have it in him to use any kind of unforgiveable curse. No matter what, he could just tell he wasn't the kind to make matters extreme like that.

That's why he would never win.

Maverick laughed. "Why should I?" he asked, turning away from Newt and looking into ______'s eyes. "How about you and I have some fun?" he asked in a cold, menacing voice.

She shook her head, moving her arms up to push him, to get away. She had no such luck. "Anything you want to do, you can kindly count me out of it!" she yelled in his face, desperately pulling herself away.

Maverick turned to Newt. "Let's make a deal. You tell me how to get this creature out of its cocoon, and I'll let your little Muggle girlfriend go. How about that?"

Newt had a horrible feeling. Of course he wanted to help ______, and he would by any means, but he didn't trust Maverick. He would try to be sly and hurt her more, or just plainly deny the deal and hurt her anyways. ______ looked over at him. "Newt," she began, looking at him with pleading eyes. However, what came next her didn't understand at first. "Don't tell him. Don't let him hurt any of your creatures."

"______-"

"I'm not worth it," she told him, pleading. "You love those creatures, I know you do, and they love you. Don't give up, we can get out of this another way. Don't make the deal."

"If you don't," Maverick threatened. "There might not be another way."

Newt stood there, conflicted. He couldn't let this happen, he didn't want to make this decision. Maverick was making him chose between the girl he had been growing feeling toward for a while now and his creatures. If it was anyone ese, he might have taken the chance of finding another way. But it wasn't anyone else. It was ______.

______, who had been there for him, who saved him from certain doom out her window.

______, who let him stay at her house with little to no questions.

______, who he saved from horrible people at work.

______, who was always so amazed by his magic.

______, who he fought for so hard to keep her memories.

______, who was always enchanted and happy when around his creatures or any kind of magic.

______, who just might be the first girl he could say he nearly loved in a long time.

He couldn't let this happen. He wasn't going to watch her be tortured in front of him. She had been through enough already from the moment she tried to save his case.

"Alright," Newt said with a heavy heart. "I'll tell you. Just let her go."

"Newt, don't do this-"

As ______ began to plead, she was cut off quickly by Maverick. "You tell me first, and then I'll let her go." He pressed his wand further into her neck, and ______ thought it might just break her skin and plunge itself in any moment now. "Make it quick too, I don't have time for games."

Newt looked at ______. "I'm sorry, I have to," he told her. "It's more of a show than a tell..."

"Just tell me!" Maverick yelled, and ______ whimpered slightly, fearing he might actually puncture her skin.

"You take him by his tail, put it between your fingers, and gently toss him under your arm and behind your back, not letting go of his tail. Kind of like a yo-yo, but don't do it too harshly." Newt explained, looking away. "Now please, let her go."

"Was that so hard?" Maverick asked in a fake whine. He took his wand off of ______'s neck and threw her towards Newt.

Newt rushed over to ______, catching her in his arms and allowing her to steady herself on him. Before Newt could get a word in, ______ was already speaking. "Newt, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have picked me."

"Sh," he told her, trying to calm her. "______, there's only one like you. You're the only one like you, and I don't want to have to watch you be tortured, or even worse, killed."

She continued to shake her head. "I'm sorry Newt," she told him.

Newt looked down at her, trying to catch her eyes, but she only looked down with a sad, defeated expression, tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. He was near tears too, no matter what, it was hard to do that. It's always hard to give up someone or something he cared so much about, but the stakes were too high. He wasn't going to allow Maverick to hurt ______ any more than he already had.

"It's not your fault," he told her. "I _chose_ you. You didn't make me choose anything, and you're safe now. That's all I wanted."

He had no idea just what was in store.

Maverick turned and followed Newt's exact instructions, and before he knew it, swooping evil was before him. Wings out, fangs bared, is beady eyes looking like he was ready to maim someone, or even worse.

After all, swooping evil was known to feed on brains.

Newt and ______ turned their heads towards Maverick in sync, both having looks of shock and terror. _Nothing in my case is dangerous,_ he tried assuring himself, but he knew deep that down it wasn't true. Any one of those creatures could turn deadly the second they were provoked, or at least dangerous enough to put up a lasting fight.

Even Pickett's attack was going to leave Maverick with one nasty scar.

Maverick pointed his wand at swooping evil's face, the exact target he needed to get to the entire time. Suddenly, Newt saw what he was going to do, and he felt a lump in his throat. He felt terrible, and he was sure he was going to be sick. "No," he began. "Please no, no, no..."

Maverick laughed, glaring at Newt before turning back to swooping evil, who was flailing around wildly. "Imperio."

He stopped fighting all together. All signs of free life left the creature as he hung like a bat off of Maverick's hand. He laughed manically and turned to Newt. "This was perfect," he told him. "Who knew that such a small creature could have so many uses?"

Newt couldn't help but look at him with a dumbfounded look. "What is it that you want Maverick?" he asked. "What is this all for? What are your intentions?"

"Oh, right," Maverick rolled his eyes. "Everyone always wants to know why the 'bad guy' is doing it all for. Not like it really matters anyways, either way you're still going to hate me, aren't you?" Maverick laughed. "It's a vicious and useless question, but I suppose since you've been through all this, you think you 'deserve it' don't you?"

Newt shook his head towards Maverick. "I didn't ask for any mind games, I just asked some simple questions. Is it too much for you?"

"Fine, fine," Maverick sighed. "I've heard a lot about you, about what you did for MACUSA over in the states. I also heard about why you were wanted over there for a while. Dangerous creatures, eh?" Maverick looked at swooping evil, who he still had his wand pointed at, dazed on his arm. "I thought it was interesting. A wizard with a case full of creatures, and the one creature wrecking havoc wasn't even one of his.

"I'd be lying if I said that there weren't times I wished I could defy the stupid Ministry here. It's like they're run by airheads, but I couldn't just go in and start fighting them, could I? I'd be arrested in seconds. It's too populated. But, a deadly creature who could take all the fall..." Maverick trailed off. "Well that could be quite useful. Only, there was one problem. I didn't want to take the time to go out and find one. So why not just bring one to me?"

Newt shook his head. He knew what the consequences would be. They would have no mercy on the creature, they'd kill him instantly. Then there would be trouble in his department, the exact thing he wanted to avoid. These creatures were misunderstood, _especially_ swooping evil. I mean, just look at the name they gave him. "Why?" Newt asked. " _Why?_ What good would attacking them all do?"

"Vengeance," Maverick told him. "They took my wife away to Azkaban for a crime she didn't commit. They told her they'd give her a fair trial, but that's not how it worked at all. They thought they had proof that she had attacked and killed an innocent group of Muggles and endangered exposure. They didn't even listen to her when she tried explaining someone had pinned it all on her. They just sent her away, they needed to close the case. They needed someone to put the blame on."

"I'm sorry about your wife, I really am," Newt began, as if trying to calm him. Like he wasn't already beyond hope. "But this will change _nothing._ This will help _nobody._ Your wife won't go free just because you kill the people who wronged her."

"Do you think I care about that?" Maverick asked. "I don't care if nothing changes, I don't care if everything changes. _They will pay._ "

"Maverick," ______ pitched in. "Do you think this is what your wife would want? To murder people in her name? _Nobody_ would want that."

"Don't you dare, Muggle," Maverick shook her head. "Don't you dare talk about her like you know her. It's your kind's fault that she's not mine anymore."

"How? How is it our fault? We didn't do anything. We died. It's us who were killed."

"Shut up!" He shouted. "Shut up, you imbecilic Muggle! Oh, I will have great pleasure in getting rid of you."

 _Get rid of me?_ ______ thought. That couldn't be good. Not even a little bit. Veins seemed to be popping out of Maverick's neck now, you could tell he wasn't happy by any means. He may have gotten what he wanted, but he didn't care for the morality lesson they tried to give him. He looked at Newt. "Anyways, I'm no longer in need of your assistance, Mister Scamander. So, you'll be my test subject."

"Test subject?" Newt asked, taking a step back now. He reached for his wand by reflex, but it wasn't there. No hope for a shielding spell, even some of the best wizards out there can't make a shielding spell without a wand, never mind him. ______ looked over at Newt, scared.

She feared for him. Whatever Maverick had in mind, he didn't deserve it. She didn't want to see him hurt. She felt this sudden wave of protectiveness, and she was sure of one thing more than she'd been sure of anything in her life: this couldn't happen. Not to him, not to Newt.

She wouldn't allow it.

"What's the best part of the body to go after if you mean to kill?" Maverick asked with a smirk. "Let's try the neck first, shall we?"

What happened next seemed to go by in slow motion.

Maverick directed his wand towards Newt, and swooping evil flew off his arm with alarming speed. So many things were running through Newt's head. Swooping evil's venom wasn't particularly dangerous, but that wasn't the problem here. They were fast, and their teeth were as sharp as knives. They needed to be, since they feast on brains, they need to be able to get through the skin and skull as fast as possible to get right to the good stuff. An attack to the neck wasn't going to turn out well. They would go right in, probably taking out a chunk.

And that would just be in the first bite.

At the same time, so many thoughts occurred in ______'s head. This wasn't happening, it _couldn't_ happen. She was not going to stand there and watch Newt be killed in front of her. Not Newt, anyone but him.

Newt had done so much for her, so much for everyone. He was a good person, he was a genuinely good person. He always worried for others more than himself, whether they're wizards, Muggles, or magical beasts. It didn't matter. They're well-being came before him.

He saved her. He took her away from the hell hole that was New York. He cared for her when she was sick. He fought for her. He did more for her than she ever did for him, and never once complained or wished for something in return.

He was perfect. He was lovely.

She would not let him die. Not like this.

He wouldn't fight back. Like he said, he'd rather cut off his hand than let anyone hurt his creatures, never mind him.

Before she thought about what she was doing, she did it.

______ shoved Newt to the side at the last second, taking is place. Standing exactly where he was, and before Newt could even react, it already happened.

Swooping evil came down, directed from the wizard, and sunk its teeth into her skin.

As she let out a loud, painful, twisted scream, Newt stared in horror, what just happened still processing.

She had saved him. She had sacrificed herself, she took his place.

Maverick stood with his wand still pointed, shocked at her gesture. As a smile crawled onto his sick face. So what if a Muggle died? It didn't matter to him who got killed first. They were both going to die anyways. _What a heroic gesture,_ he thought. _Silly Muggle. It doesn't mean anything._

It meant everything.

"No!" Newt screamed as ______ fell to the ground. "______!" he yelled out, getting up and rushing to her side. His screaming was the single most painful thing anyone's ever heard. It was one of true loss, as if it meant it was all over for him, there was no hope. Like he had lost everything.

In a way, he had.

This screaming, however painful, was what ended up saving his life.

Maverick was distracted by his own feeling of euphoria, he didn't notice he was holding his grip of swooping evil a little loose. And that scream, that _scream,_ hit it's ears. The scream of the one who tamed him. The scream of the one who kept him company. The scream of the one who fed him. Who cared for him. Who didn't try to hunt him.

The scream of the one and only person he'd _ever_ be loyal to.

It was enough to snap him out of the spell. Swooping evil let go of the harsh bite it was making on her neck, but damage had already been done. Its venom was already inside her, not to mention a sizeable chunk on her neck that was hanging off, bleeding rapidly.

He moved off her neck, taking off into the air, letting Newt get close to her. "No," he began, the tears that were in his eyes earlier spilling. "No, ______, don't fade out. ______, can you hear me?"

______ opened her eyes slowly. "Newt," she began, a small smile on her face just from saying his name. "You're okay."

"You're not," he said, shaking his head. As her eyes threatened to close, he took her head in his hands. "No, stay with me, please-"

He was interrupted.

"As touching as this all is," Maverick began. "It's time to end this. Her sacrifice means nothing, I want to try the head now."

He pointed his wand, but nothing happened. Swooping evil did not move. "What?" he whispered, looking at his wand like it had a fault. That's when he realized what was going on. "No," he shook his head. "Not now. Not when I've come so far!"

Newt recognized what that meant, and looked over at swooping evil. He'd never encourage violence in one of his creatures, of course not. That didn't mean he was going to stop it, though. Swooping evil looked angry, like anyone would when they find out someone had been controlling them. "I'm going into my case," he said. "I'm going to turn my back on you for a moment."

Newt picked up ______'s body and turned to his case, opening it and diving in. Swooping evil turned to Maverick, and Maverick knew what was coming.

They didn't call him swooping evil for nothing, and so he did what he did best.

Newt panicked, his thoughts in a frenzy. Meanwhile, it was like ______ felt no pain. She felt something wet on her neck, but she didn't feel anything. Her mind, however, was getting fuzzy, and her vision blurred. Even though she felt no pain, she knew what happened, and she was filled with fear. "Newt," she asked, her voice cracking. "Newt, am I bleeding? How bad is it?"

Newt set her down on his bed. "Sh," he told her. "Don't talk. Don't do anything, it might just make it worse." His face was still wet, and through his panic, he was trying to find out what to do first. He knew what the venom did, it took away memories, and he didn't want that. He couldn't allow it, not after everything they've been through together. He wouldn't let that venom get far in her system, no way.

He wouldn't allow her memory of him to become evanescent.

"Don't move," he told her. He grabbed some towels and wet them, trying his best to clean her neck. It just wouldn't stop breathing, but when it got to the point where he could see her bite, he knew he had to move fast. "I apologize, but I have to do this."

Newt moved his lips on her neck, sucking on it as hard as he could. He needed to suck all the venom out, one way or another. As soon as he could taste it on his tongue, he turned, spitting it out. As pain still failed to register in ______, all she could feel was Newt close to her, his lips on her neck.

She was ecstatic. She had done it, she saved him, and she didn't care what happened next. _He was safe._

Newt was still sucking on her neck when she began to try to talk. "Newt..." she began, her voice trailing off. As more blood came out, it was making it harder and harder to speak. Harder and harder to stay awake.

"Don't speak," Newt told her. "Don't strain yourself. I'm going to get you through this," he told her, grabbing the towel again and wiping off the new blood on her neck that was blocking his way.

"There's something important I need to tell you..." she began again, trailing off. Her vision was getting worse, and her eyes began to close slowly.

"You can tell me when we're out of here, when everything's better. When _you're_ better." He went to her neck and began to suck again, making sure he got all the venom he could. He wasn't going to allow this to ruin everything. No matter what it took, she was not going to lose her memories. Not after everything they went through together. Not after everything she's done for him.

Newt grabbed his needle and thread. "This is going to sting a bit," he told her. Tying it as quickly as possible, he began to do the best stitches he knew how to do. He'd only ever treated some injuries in his beasts, never something like this. He didn't know what else to do, and until he could get her to a hospital and get her some better medical attention, this was the best he could do. He couldn't go right away, she might not make it there.

Everything was in his hands now. _I'm not fit for this,_ Newt thought, tears spilling out of his eyes. _But I can't let this happen. Not to her, not to her. I'll do anything and everything if I can save her._

______ could feel her consciousness slipping away. She still couldn't feel anything but Newt, and it was the only thing keeping her going. Just him being there, knowing he was safe, know that she saved him. That she finally returned the favor.

She still had something to say, something she needed Newt to know. She realized too much too late, and if she didn't tell him now, she feared she'd never get the chance. She opened her mouth, the words barely managing to croak out of her throat. "I should tell you..."

She trailed off, and her vision went black as her eyes closed.

"______?" Newt asked, pausing for a moment, tears forming in his eyes again. "______?" he put his fingers on the side of her neck that wasn't bitten open, feeling for a pulse.

It was almost invisible, but it was still there.

"I'm not giving up," Newt said, wiping the tears off his face. "I'm going to save you."


	20. 20

It had only been a day, if you could even call it that, since ______ almost died.

Newt had gotten out of that castle as soon as he was able to give her enough medicine to make her pulse a little stronger. He couldn't take her to a muggle hospital, they would ask too many questions. He was worried about taking her to a wizard one, although the laws were slacker it didn't mean everybody was nice to Muggles and they all got along.

So, Newt called someone he trusted. Someone he hoped would help him.

He sent the fastest beast he could to take an emergency letter to Tina back in the states. He just hoped it would get to her on time. By the time he had gotten out of the castle, it was one in the morning.

He rushed home so he could get ______ somewhere with less commotion, and from the second he set her down on the bed, he couldn't get to sleep. He couldn't stop worrying. What if she got worse overnight while Newt was sleeping? What if she needed something and he was fast asleep? What if-

He couldn't turn off any of his thoughts.

A day after sending his letter, he got one back from Tina. He was scared of what she might say, what she was going to tell him. He was helpless, he couldn't deal with this on his own. He usually didn't worry so much or panic, but he couldn't help it. Not when it came to ______. He opened the letter slowly, fearing he words written on it. He was relieved when he saw what she wrote:

_Dear Newt,_

_I'm taking the next boat to Britain I can catch. It leaves tonight, so I should be there tomorrow evening or so. Look out for me. I won't ask anything now, but as soon as I get there, you have a lot of explaining to do. Queenie's coming too, she's worried about you. You were so panicked in your letter._

_Until then,_

_Porpentina Goldstein._

He smiled and hugged the letter to him. He was relieved, she was coming to help. She put all the obliviating business behind in America, and he almost forgot about what happened before he left. What she told him.

Of course she would come to help him. He just hoped she wasn't getting the wrong impression. She needed him there as a friend, nothing less, nothing more. After all this time, he realized who he was infatuated with.

And she was lying in the next room.

He was making breakfast for two, but in reality, he would be the only one eating it. ______ still hadn't waken up, and he was scared. He was so scared, he still couldn't get any sleep. Anytime he made food, he made food for her too, just in case she woke up. He had no idea what to do, he was at a loss. All he knew how to do was give her medicine and make sure she wasn't dead.

Newt went back into the room, watching over ______. "Morning," he told her, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. "Tina wrote back to me. She and her sister Queenie are coming either tomorrow or tonight, depending on when she wrote that letter. She'll be a big help, she can help do the things I can't." He was talking to her while eating, as if he would expect an answer. He didn't expect anything, he just hoped. Hoped she would wake up. "I don't think you've met Queenie. You'll like her, she's really nice, and I think she might be better at taking care of sick people than I am. She's better at cooking too, so if you wake up while she's around, she can cook you a proper meal. She'll know what you like too, she can read minds."

Newt set his breakfast tray down and looked at hers, filled and untouched. He sighed and looked back at ______, still unresponsive. Out of habit, he reached for her neck, just to make sure she still had a pulse. After making sure she was alive, he examined her face.

He just wanted her to wake up, even if it was only for a second. He had no idea if this was a deadly reaction, but he needed to see her eyes, even just one last time. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Wake up, ______," he whispered sweetly. "Please, just wake up. I need to tell you something."

You could tell Newt wasn't doing well. He'd been trying to take care of himself as much as her, but the second he left the room, he stressed about it. He couldn't sleep, caffeinated tea was the only thing keeping him going at this point. Even when he tried reading a book he couldn't concentrate. The only break he got was when he was feeding his creatures, they calmed him down a little bit.

He had a new creature to take care of, too. When Newt was trying to leave the castle on that night, the Crup that had led him there was still laying out there. Newt didn't want to just leave him there, he could tell he had nowhere to go. He didn't have an owner from what he could see, and so Newt made the rash decision to take him with him. He wanted ______ to name him as soon as she woke up. He already was trying to get him to warm up to her. They were usually ferocious towards Muggles, but ______ had always been different. Pickett was proof enough for that.

Pickett had gone back to staying with Newt. Newt didn't know how to read it, maybe it was because ______ was sick, or maybe it was because Newt was simply warmer. Whatever the reason, Newt found it kind of funny. His entire excuse to stay around ______ was because Pickett wouldn't get off of her, but now that didn't apply.

Now he just wanted to be around her. No concrete excuse, he didn't need one. He just wanted to be with her.

The day crawled on, ______ still not showing any signs of waking up soon. Newt only left the room a few times to feed his creatures, the Crup always laying down and whining when Newt was trying to leave. He smiled down at the wizard dog. "You're just like Pickett, aren't you?" he asked, leaning down and petting the dog. "She'll wake up soon, and when she does, you'll get to see her. I promise."

Newt headed back upstairs, the time shifting into evening. Deciding to try to read next to ______, he was a few chapters in when he heard some knocks on the door, followed by a voice.  A voice he knew.

"Mister Scamander?"

Newt's eyes widened, and he set his book down and stood up with haste. He ran over to the door, throwing it open. "Tina, Queenie," he said, slightly out of breath. "You guys are here."

"I told you we were coming," Tina said with a smile, and Newt moved aside to let the two girls in.

Queenie walked past him with a look of concern. Unlike Tina, she could actually read his thoughts and know what was going on right away. It was especially easy now since Newt was under stress and hurting. "Oh honey," she began. "You haven't slept in days. Or... bathed..." she trailed off, taking one step back. "You need to take care of yourself."

Newt shook his head. "Later," he told her. "Anyways, you should see ______. She hasn't been awake in days."

Tina gave him a concerned look. "Newt, how've you been taking care of her?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Sorry, what?"

"What I mean is what have you been doing for her?"

"Oh, right," Newt nodded, then started walking into the room he had ______ in, she was still laying in the bed, unresponsive. Tina and Queenie followed him in, looking from ______ to Newt. "I sucked the venom out and stitched up her neck, and I give her medicine everyday, but that's about it."

"That's it?" Tina asked, surprised. _I'm so glad we came when we did,_ she thought. As much as she didn't like the idea of Newt and ______ together before, she meant a lot to him. The world, in fact. "Newt, you go take a shower. We've got things to do."

"Things?" Newt asked, confused. "Whatever you're going to do, I can help. I don't want to just sit around."

Tina paused. "Newt, we have to change her. She can't just sit in the same clothes for days, and she needs to eat too."

"Oh, right," Newt said, shaking his head. _How could I forget that?_ He thought. _She could've just died from hunger or dehydration because of me._

"You go bathe honey," Queenie told him in a reassuring voice. "You've been doing fine, you can't remember everything. That's why we're here."

Newt only nodded and walked out of the room. Tina and Queenie turned to each other. "He's really in the dumps," Tina mumbled, taking the covers off of ______ so they could start changing her into fresh clothes.

"He loves her," Queenie said nonchalantly.

Tina paused for a moment, her heart involuntarily sinking. "You think so?" she asked, not looking at Tina, focused on trying to find something to put ______ in. Her bag was next to the bed, untouched, so she pulled some things out of there.

"Well, I'm not a mind reader for nothing," Queenie said. She knew about her sister's crush on Newt too, she has for a while. She also knew that Tina needed to get over him. Queenie could tell Newt was _in love_ with this girl. Real, genuine love. She loved her sister too much for her to go on liking a man who didn't see her the same way.

After getting ______ changed into some of her other clothes, Tina spoke. "I'm going to go blend some food together so she can eat. What do you think I should make her?"

"Just something simple," Queenie told her. "Maybe some vegetables and something with protein in it. Something with Vitamin D too."

Tina nodded, leaving the room. Queenie looked around for somewhere to sit, settling herself where Newt had been. "

Just then, Newt walked into the room, his hair damp and now in different clothes. He had his eyes focused on the ground. "Have you guys finished changing her?" he asked in a small voice.

"We have," Queenie told him. He nodded and entered, and seeing Queenie sit where he usually was, he slowly sat at the foot the bed next to ______'s feet. At first, there was nothing but silence. Queenie decided to break it. "You need sleep," she told him.

"I'll sleep later," he told her. "When it's later, maybe."

Queenie sighed, she could tell he wasn't going to sleep at all if she didn't make him. He was too worried about ______, and she didn't need to read his mind for that one. It was written all over his face. "What happened to her anyways? You were vague in your letter. Something about a dark wizard attack?"

Newt shook his head. "That's a story for another time," he voided the subject. Just then, Tina walked back in the room. She had a tube in one hand, a glass with blended food in the other. Newt knew what was coming, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be in the room to watch it. He didn't want to leave her though.

Queenie spoke up. "Could you go get a glass of water? She's going to need that too," she told Newt, giving him something to do so he could get out of the room at the same time. Newt nodded and left the room, and Queenie and Tina moved so they were stood above ______.

As Tina opened her mouth, Queenie asked "Which one is the stomach? I know if we do this wrong we'll accidentally pump it into her lungs."

Tina thought for a moment. "I think the one at the very back of your throat it is your lungs," she told her. "I remember reading that somewhere."

"Well, here's to hoping you're right," Queenie said, and they slowly lowered the tube into her mouth and down her throat. They held their breath as they started pouring the drink in, and when she didn't start choking, they let it out. Right as they emptied the cup, Newt walked in.

Seeing a tube leading from Tina's hands into ______'s stomach was a sight he never thought he'd see, and a sight he never wanted to see. Even though it made him a little squeamish, he stepped in, handing the cup to Queenie. "Here you go," he told her.

"Thanks honey," she told him with a smile, and Newt looked away as they poured the water in, going down the tube and hydrating ______.

After they got the tube out, they all went into the living room to sit down. As Queenie started making cocoa for the three of them, Tina began asking questions. "Newt, you have a few things to explain," she began. "What happened with the dark wizard? What could've happened that did _that_ to her?"

Newt paused. "She threw herself in front of me," he began in a sad voice. "There was this dark wizard trying to use swooping evil's deathly abilities to go on a murder spree. He was going to have him kill me after he cursed him, but she threw herself in front of me..." As he trailed off, he wiped a tear off his face he didn't realize spilled out.

It was a vague description. It didn't answer so many of Tina's questions, but she didn't want to press it. She could tell just thinking about it hurt him. Just then, Queenie walked into the room, three cups of cocoa. She gave one to Newt and offered Tina one. They all drank their cocoa, talking about nothing in particular. They didn't want to ask about what happened anymore, and Queenie didn't even want to read his mind. Something like that was just too personal, too scarring.

After drinking and talking, drowsiness suddenly hit Newt, making him yawn loudly. "Ah," Queenie began. "You really must be getting to sleep."

"I'm fine," Newt assured her. "It's just a yawn. It's been a long day."

"Newt," Tina chirped in. "You haven't slept in days. You haven't been taking care of yourself. You go to sleep, don't worry, we'll watch over ______. It's what we're here for."

Newt sighed and nodded, too tired to put up a fight. "Wake me up if she wakes," he told Tina in a tired voice. "I'll be in the back bedroom."

"Of course," Tina told him. "Good night, Newt."

"Night," he told her, walking off.

Queenie smiled. "I knew if I put a little drowsy medicine in his cocoa he'd go right to bed."

Tina stared wide-eyed at Queenie. "You did _what?"_

"Oh, don't worry, he didn't notice."

"That's not what I was worried about!" Tina exclaimed. She sighed and put her head in her hands. "There's no use in the both of us staying up. We should take shifts."

"Alright," Queenie replied, putting her cup down. "I'll take the first shift. I don't like being waken."

"Typical," Tina joked, and Queenie stood up. "I'll just sleep on the couch here."

"Alright, I'll wake you if I need help with anything." Queenie told her, leaving the room.

The night went on without a hitch, and so did the day. And the day after that.

And the day after that.

For three days while Queenie and Tina were there, ______ still didn't wake up. They knew she was alive, and Newt didn't want to give up. Every day he kept saying, "We're one day closer to her waking up. She'll wake up soon, I know she will."

It was a normal day. Nothing much had happened through the day, and it was the same as the one before. They were doing night shifts, and Queenie was sitting next to the bed, reading a book while looking over to check ______ every so often. She didn't expect anything, so when she suddenly heard shifting next to her, she looked away from her book and gasped when she saw it.

______ was trying to sit up, groaning and grabbing her neck.

"Oh my god!" Queenie screeched happily, putting her book down. "______! You're awake!"

______ had a piercing headache, and her neck had a severe pain in it, like someone had just stabbed her. She looked over to the woman who just had screeched out her name. "Who are you?" She asked. "Where... where am I?"

"Not much time to explain," Queenie told her, standing up. "I'm a friend of Newt's, he's been worried sick about you. Literally. He could sleep for days. Never mind that though, you smell dreadful," Queenie told her honestly, stepping back. "You go take a shower, I'll go wake Newt."

"I'm sorry, what?" ______ asked. "I'm not sure what's happening."

"I'll let Newt explain then. Now, go freshen up!" Queenie nudged her, going to ______'s bag and grabbing the bag of toiletries she had packed. "I need to go tell Newt."

As Queenie rushed out of the room, ______ turned to the room Queenie was pushing her towards. Walking in, she looked around carefully. It was an ordinary bathroom, although small. She started running a shower and stepped in slowly, her legs still shaky from being out for so long.

How long has it been anyways?

Meanwhile, Queenie was basically knocking down Newt's door, jumping up and down for joy. "Newt!" she exclaimed loudly, waking the wizard.

"What is it?" he asked, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes. He looked over at the clock, it was only 12:00, his shift wasn't until 3:00.

"She's awake!" Queenie exclaimed, a huge smile on her face. Newt's eyes widened, he didn't have to ask about anything anymore. He knew exactly what she was waking him up for.

Newt jumped out of bed, literally, and grabbed his jacket off the chair, putting it on. It was getting near the end of December, and it was freezing, especially considering he just jumped out of bed. Right as he was about to run out, Queenie stopped him for a moment. "Woah," she began. "I want to tell you something first."

"What is it?" he asked impatiently, but not rudely. He was just itching to see her, he wanted to hug her. To talk to her. To know that she was alright.

"I didn't tell her much, but from what it sounds like, she doesn't know where she is or what was going on. She's taking a shower now, but when she gets out... you have some explaining to do to her."

 _She doesn't know what's going on?_ Newt asked in his head, fearing the worst. He had gotten all of the venom out, right? She can't have lost her memory, there was a reasonable answer for all of this. He was sure of it. Newt just nodded. "Got it, I'll explain everything to her. Please, I need to see her."

Queenie half-smiled. "I know you do," she said, moving aside. Newt walked past her, running to where he knew ______ would be now.

Walking into the room, he heard the shower still running in the bathroom attached to it. A ridiculously large smile spread across his face.

_She was awake. She was alive. She made it through._

When the water stopped running, Newt's heart jumped. He couldn't stand still, he started pacing. He started assuming the worst. What if she didn't remember him? What if he didn't get all the venom out? What if she was sad, what if she was angry? What if she was...

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a door open. Newt spun around at lightning speed, and when he did, he saw ______. She was standing at the doorway of the bathroom, dressed in some basic pajamas, and water droplets still falling down her face. They stared at each other for a moment, both unbelieving that the other was there. Slowly, a smile spread across both of their faces, and they spoke in unison.

"Newt?"

"______?"

Bursting into tears suddenly, ______ made a rash decision to run up to Newt and throw her arms around him. They weren't sad tears, they were happy. _She_ was happy. In fact, she was overjoyed.

She managed to save Newt, and he saved her.

"You're alive," she whispered, not letting go. He didn't mind it, when he was hugging her, he felt like everything was right. This time, everything _was_ right. He knew for a fact now she wasn't under amortentia, and it made everything feel different. Especially this hug. She was warmer, despite being soaking. She seemed softer too, in a way. He could hold her closer without feeling uncomfortable.

Everything was perfect. What was he so worried about anyways?"

"I should be saying that to you," he told her. "You haven't been awake for days."

"I haven't?" she asked in a contemplative tone. ______ released the hug, stepping back and thinking for a moment. "The last thing I remember, we were in your suitcase, and I was..." she trailed off for a moment. "I was trying to tell you something."

"You passed out. I've been taking care of you here ever since, we're at my childhood home. The one I was telling you about." He started. He was so excited she was awake, he had so much to tell her. "Tina and her sister are here too. You remember Tina, right? She's been a big help, and so has her sister. She was the one you woke up with, she was telling me how you looked so confused. Probably because you didn't know her. By the way..." he trailed off, slowing down to catch his breath. "I have a surprise for you."

______ perked up on hearing those words. "Surprise?" she asked excitedly. She wanted to know right away, but at the same time...

She really wanted to tell him what she was trying to say.

Ever since that moment where she jumped in between him and the creature, she realized something. She realized that Newt meant so much more to her than a friend. _So_ much more. It all happened so slowly, she didn't even know that she was developing feelings for her. Yet, when he set her down in his case and was comforting her...

She knew it. She knew how she felt.

And she had to let him know.

"Newt," she began in a low voice. "Before you show me your surprise... I need to tell you something."

Newt felt his heart skip a beat. "What is it?"

______ took a deep breath in. _It's now or never,_ she thought. _You can do this._

"Remember when I was under the amortentia?" she asked. "All those things I told you?"

Newt shivered slightly. "Yes..." he said, nodding. "Why?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Well... I meant all those things I told you. About, uh... about how I felt about you. All those things I said about how you were sweet, and passionate, and handsome, and knowing how to make me smile..." she trailed off, a blush beginning to crawl onto her face. "And about wanting you to kiss me. My feelings for you are true and I want you to know I wouldn't lie."

There was silence hanging in the air after she said that, and she feared that she just ruined everything. As she looked down to the floor, Newt couldn't stop staring at her.

 _She meant it?_ He asked himself in his head. _She meant everything she said?_ He was in shock. He felt bad ever since that kiss, he felt horrible about it. He felt like it was one sided passion, that he was into it but she wasn't. He was scared that she'd end up being mad about it, or never even talk about it at all.

Never did he expect _this._

Newt took a deep breath in and ran his hand through his hair. Without thinking about it, he blurted out, "Do you still want me to kiss you?"

______ whipped her head up fast, looking Newt in the eyes. "What?" she asked.

For a second, Newt was distracted. It had been so long since he got to look into her eyes and not see panic or fear or shock. They almost seemed to be even prettier than he remembered, and he almost forgot to reply. He cleared his throat, repeating his question. "Do you still want me to kiss you?"

______ didn't even have to think about it, she just started to slowly nod.

Newt took a deep breath in, stepping closer to her. She was mesmerized. Last time this happened, she didn't get to fully enjoy it. Last time it happened, it's like she didn't even feel it. Like it wasn't even her. So, as he stepped towards her, she just stood there. Too shocked to say anything, but she didn't want to move. Not one inch.

Newt put his hands on her waist, biting his lip for a moment. _Here goes nothing,_ he thought, and he leaned down, closing his eyes and remembering to turn his head this time, kissing her.

This time was definitely different. Everything was better, everything was perfect. He thought everything was right last time, but it wasn't. Not really. This was a whole new experience, for both of them.

Newt's lips were soft and warm, faintly tasting of some kind of sweet. Chocolate maybe? Whatever it was, she loved it. Being so close to him, she could smell him so clearly, like when they were apparating. It was that smell she loved, and now, it seemed magnified. There was no other way to describe it other than _Newt._ As her breathing matched up with his, she moved her hands up to his head, gently placing them behind his head and feeling his soft hair.

Everything was right. Everything was perfect.

It all seemed so _magical._

After what _was_ ten seconds but felt too short, they broke apart. Their eyes fluttered open slowly, and they looked into each others eyes.

"That was perfect," Newt whispered suddenly.

And as if they read each other's minds, they leaned in and kissed again.


	21. 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize to those of you who don't celebrate Christmas. Since it's coming up in real time (depending on when you read this) and the movie was set in December, I thought it might be something nice to add in here. I can't please everyone, though I wish I could.

______ couldn't get back to sleep after that, she simply wasn't tired. Newt couldn't get back to sleep for a different reason – he was too happy, euphoric in fact. She was finally awake, she was okay, he could stop worrying.

They sat and talked for hours about everything and nothing. Queenie had decided to go to sleep and no one ever woke Tina up for her shift. So, when she woke up and saw it was light outside, panic struck her. _No,_ she thought, shaking her head. _Please be fine, please be fine,_ she rushed to her feet, running over to ______'s room. She knew Newt would be awake by now, and knowing him, he was probably already by ______'s side. Tina threw open the door, already beginning to apologize. "I'm sorry, I woke up late and I didn't-"

She stopped in her tracks when she saw Newt and ______ just sitting on the bed, talking.

 _She's awake,_ Tina thought. _That's why no one woke me up._

"Oh," Tina began, feeling out-of-place. "I didn't know she, erm, _you_ woke up. That's wonderful." She smiled and nodded.

______ nodded, smiling back at Tina. She had a feeling before that Tina still didn't like her very much, but she was being pleasant. "Thank you, by the way." ______ told her.

"For what?" Tina asked, confused at first.

"For coming to help me. For helping me get better. For feeding me and making sure my clothes weren't _too_ soiled." ______ listed off. Newt told her how helpful everyone was when she was out, and she felt like she owed a huge debt to everyone. "I know you didn't like me much, but you still came all this way to help me, so thank you."

 _I did this for Newt,_ Tina thought. _I came for Newt._ She kept repeating to herself, but even so, the girl wasn't wrong. While Tina came originally for Newt, maybe that's not why she stayed. She knew, she knew deep inside that Newt didn't feel the same way about her the way she felt about him. She came for him, to comfort him, and possibly... for the slim hope maybe he'd notice her. Notice how hard she was trying, notice how she looked at him, noticed her feelings hadn't gone away, and that they were genuine. Well, if he had noticed, he didn't say anything. He didn't look at her the same way she looked at him, but the way he looked at ______...

Well, it was foolish to think she could ever be the one that he might prefer.

"No problem," Tina told her. "Newt, do you want me to start making breakfast?"

Newt nodded. "That would be nice, thank you." As he finished his sentence, he gasped as if he remembered something and turned to ______. "I almost forgot, I wanted to show you your surprise."

"Right!" ______ exclaimed. "I forgot about that." She turned to Tina. "I can help make breakfast before I see it, if you want. I'd like to help out a little after all you've done for me."

"I can make it myself," Tina told her. "You should take it slow anyways. Go see what your surprise is."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Alright," ______ nodded. Tina walked out of the room without another word, so she turned to Newt. "So, where exactly is this surprise?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"In my case," Newt told her, standing up and offering her a hand. "Coming?"

She smiled and took his hand, and as he intertwined his fingers with hers, she led him to his room, where his case sat by his bed. "Close your eyes," he told her.

"How am I supposed to get into your case with my eyes closed?" She asked, but closed her eyes at the same time. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"You don't have to go in," he told her. "He'll come out to you."

As ______ was left confused, Newt opened his face and stuck his face in the case and whistled. As the Crup launched himself out of the case, it took one look at ______ and started jumping on her legs, wanting attention. "You can open your eyes now," Newt told her.

As she opened her eyes, she looked down and saw a dog jumping on her legs. "Aw!" she immediately cried out. She kneeled on the floor and started petting the dog. It looked like a Jack Russell Terrier, but there was one distinct difference. This dog had two tails, both wagging at a rapid speed. "He's so cute!" she called out, petting the dog.

"He took a liking to you back when we were in the woods," Newt told her. "Followed us all the way home. Usually they're ferocious towards Muggles, but you always seem to be an exception." He kneeled down so he was on the ground too, petting the dog with her.

"What's his name?" she asked, unable to stop smiling.

"I haven't given him one yet," Newt admitted. "I wanted you to name him when you woke up."

"Oh," she spoke, thinking of a name in her head. As she scratched behind his ears, she decided to throw out one of the names that had popped into her head. "How about Morrow?"

"Morrow..." Newt whispered to himself, looking at the dog. He smiled. "I think it fits him perfectly."

"Morrow is then," she said. "You hear that?" she addressed Morrow. "That's your name now, I hope you like it." As if responding to her, the dog leaned up and licked her face. Laughing, she looked at Newt. "He could almost pass as a Muggle dog."

"Almost, but the tails give him away," he told her. "Wizards are usually required to sever one of the tails off when they're a puppy with a painless charm, but he must've gotten left behind before then. Now he's a little old to do that."

"I'm glad," she said. "It gives him character. I don't think I could cut off one of his tails even if I knew it was painless."

"Neither could I," Newt said, standing up. "I should get to feeding the rest of them," Newt gestured towards his case.

"I'll help," ______ said, standing up with him.

"You should eat," he told her. "We've been feeding you, but, well, it'll probably be nice to be eating proper food for once. I'll let you help next time."

"Okay," ______ agreed. She usually would've pressed the matter, but she could tell how worried Newt had been about her. She didn't want to press anything when she knew he was just thinking the best for her.

Newt walked into his case, and ______ turned and left the room, Morrow at her heels. As she walked out into the kitchen, she saw Tina and Queenie having a discussion.

"... why so soon?" Queenie asked Tina, stirring a spoon in four mugs.

"Well, she's getting better, and I imagine they'd want some alone time," Tina told her. "He doesn't need our help anymore."

"That doesn't mean he wouldn't want us around anymore," Queenie pointed out. She couldn't even read Tina at the moment, her thoughts were so mixed and her words weren't making sense.

Tina could tell she was worrying her sister. She gave her a reassuring smile. "Queenie, I'm fine. Plus, it's almost Christmas, and wouldn't it be nice to spend it at home? You could even go visit Jacob's bakery."

Queenie's face lit up, and her sister's odd behavior escaped her mind. "I can?" Queenie asked, excited. Tina usually advised Queenie against going to his bakery. Despite everything, it was sill against the law for Muggles and Wizards to have relations. So, hearing that her sister was going to let her go and see him meant everything to her. She thought about doing it secretly all the time, but at the same time, she didn't want to betray her sister's trust. She loved her too much to do that.

Tina smiled. "Of course you can." As she looked over, she saw ______ standing in the doorway. "Oh, hello ______."

"Hi," she responded, walking into the kitchen. "Is there anything you two need help with?"

"Not at the moment, no," Queenie told her, halting stirring the drinks. "Sorry about earlier, I forgot entirely you don't know who I am."

"It's fine," ______ told her. "Newt explained to me who you were. Still, you did surprise me. I wasn't sure where I was at first, and being rushed into the bathroom by a stranger did give me a weird vibe."

"Well, I'm Queenie. It's nice to meet you," she extended a hand out towards her.

"______," she shook her hand. "I'm sure you already knew that though."

"Well, it would be strange to watch over someone and not know their name." Queenie's eyes drifted to the floor, spotting Morrow, who was sitting by ______. "However, I don't know this guy's name!" she exclaimed, kneeling to the floor and petting him.

"Oh, that's Morrow," she told her. "He's a wizard dog Newt gave me."

"Oh! Tina and I used to want one when we were kids. Remember?" she asked, looking up at her sister.

Tina stopped what she was doing and looked at Queenie and the wizard dog on the floor. "Oh yeah," she remarked. "I wonder if we could get one back at home."

"Maybe," Queenie said, standing up. "It could be like our little Christmas gift!"

Tina dished breakfast and set it on the table, and they each grabbed their own cups. They sat and talked for a while when Newt walked into the room. "Grab a cup honey," Queenie told him. "The food is already over here."

Newt grabbed his cup and sat next to ______, drinking and eating. There was a brief period of silence before Tina spoke out. "We're leaving this afternoon," she told him suddenly.

"You're what?" Newt asked, surprised.

"I figured we should get home before Christmas. I need to get back to MACUSA anyways, we both do. We're using up our vacation, and soon enough, we won't have any more days left."

"Oh," Newt said in a small voice. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, we're all packed up."

"Well, we'll see you off then," ______ offered. "I don't want you to leave so soon, but it makes sense I suppose. It's the least I can do."

"That would be perfect," Queenie told them.

They all ate the rest of their breakfast in relative silence, and afterwards, all began to get ready to go see the Goldstein sisters off the dock. While Tina was cleaning up and Newt was in the shower, Queenie and ______ were having a conversation in the living room.

"Thank you, again," ______ told her. "I imagine things would've turned out so much worse if you two weren't here."

"Oh, no problem. Newt was in pretty bad shape, looking after you alone."

"I wish I could make it up to everyone," ______ leaned her head on her hand, petting Morrow, who was laying at her feet. "I feel like I was completely helpless, and now that I'm awake, I want to make up for it."

Queenie thought for a moment, drawing a deep breath in. "There is one way you could make it up," she began.

"What is it?" ______ asked, intrigued.

Queenie paused for a moment. "I know this may not be any of my business, but I just wanted to say... I want you to love Newt for as long as possible or not at all."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you love him, and he loves you. That much is plain to see. The thing is, though, my sister loves him too. She can see how much he loves you, so she's resigning herself. She's trying to let go, but it must stay that way. I don't want her to be toyed with, I don't want Newt to end up being heartbroken and going back to her if it's only temporary. All I'm asking is for you to love Newt forever or not at all. Do you think you can do that?"

______ thought about it. It was a huge commitment, and now that she knew it was more than Newt that her feelings were effecting, she felt a wave of slight guilt and fear. She slowly nodded. "I'll try," she told Queenie. "But I don't know what to do if he's the one who ends up leaving."

"He won't," Queenie reassured her. "I've seen inside his head. He's in too deep with you to leave you, unless something too terrible happened."

"Queenie!" Tina's voice called from the other room. "We're about to leave! Grab your things!"

As Queenie turned to leave the room, ______ stood up and called out. "Wait, Queenie."

"Hm?" She hummed, spinning around.

"This might be a silly question but... do you use the term 'love' lightly? What if this ends up being nothing, what if it's just a fleeting feeling?"

"Oh honey," Queenie smiled. "You must've never been in love before. If it's not love already, with how strongly you both feel, it will turn into love soon. Real, true, genuine love."

"How do you know how we both feel?"

"I read minds, but even if I couldn't, I've seen the way you two look at each other. I don't have to read any minds to see that you two care about each other more than you care about yourselves."

Queenie turned around and walked out, and ______ stood there for a moment. She tried thinking back, trying to remember if there was any certain moment, anything that made her feel the way she does. She doesn't remember falling in love, she didn't even know if what she was feeling was love.

She just knew that when she was by his side, she didn't want to leave.

And when he held her, it felt like she was home.

Newt walked into the living room, looking at ______. "We're about to go, are you ready?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," she said, walking up to him.

"Are you alright? You seem a little... distracted."

"I'm fine," she told him, giving him a reassuring smile. "I was just thinking."

"Alright," he told her. He paused for a moment, thinking about what he wanted to ask her. He fumbled for a moment, letting his eyes drift away from hers and towards her lips. "May I hold your hand?"

She was taken aback for a moment. She didn't expect him to ask out loud, but she smiled and nodded. "I'd love that."

Newt smiled a little and took her hand, walking out to see Queenie and Tina standing by the door with their suitcases. When Tina saw the two of them, her heart sank a little, but she shook it off. She knew he didn't love her like she loved him, so she shouldn't let these things shock her. "Is everyone ready?" Tina asked, distracting herself.

"Yeah, we're ready," Newt told her, then suddenly remembering, turned to ______. "We're apparating there since it'll be faster, so, erm, do you want to do the same thing we did back at the castle? Did that help?"

"Oh, sure," ______ replied. "It did help, I don't remember feeling bad afterwards. I don't know if it was the adrenaline or not, but I suppose we'll find out."

"Do you get sick?" Queenie asked in a sympathetic voice.

"She almost threw up the first and second time we did it," Newt told Queenie. "But that happens to lots of people the first few times they apparate."

______ wrapped her arms around Newt's torso, resting her head against him. "Alright, I'm ready," she said, a small laugh evident in her voice. Hearing that made Newt subconsciously smile, he still couldn't believe he was finally better.

Newt rested his head on her head, wrapping one arm around her and pulling out his new wand with his free hand. "Alright," Tina spoke. "Let's go."

As they all waved their wands, ______ squeezed Newt and felt her head spinning. Since she taught herself that trick though, she focused on Newt and Newt alone, and her head only span for a moment after they landed on solid ground. "Are you feeling alright?" Newt asked, looking at ______.

She nodded, opening her eyes slowly. "I'm getting better," she told him. "Doing this helps a lot."

As she let go of Newt, they heard a boat whistle. "I think that's ours," Queenie spoke. They all headed over to the ship and saw people still boarding. Queenie and Tina turned to look at Newt and ______.

"Thank you for coming," Newt told them. "I wouldn't have been able to do this without you two."

"Anytime," Tina told him. "Send us a letter every now and again, especially if you need us for something. We'll be there. I-" she began, but stopped herself. "I'll see you again. It was nice to meet you under different circumstances, ______."

"You too," ______ told Tina. "I'd love to see you every now and again. I'll be sure to write the two of you, I'll make Newt write too."

"I was going to write," Newt pitched in. "I'm always writing anyways. Or, I have been."

"Don't forget to bring me that copy," Tina told him. " _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them._ Sounds like a book Ilvermorny could use."

"It'll reach Hogwarts first," Newt told her. "The best wizarding school of all."

"Hogwash," Queenie told him. The boat whistle rang again.

"We should get going," Tina said. "I'll see you again, Mister Scamander."

As Tina and Queenie boarded the boat, Newt and ______ waved as it left the dock a few minutes later. ______ turned to Newt. "They kept bringing up Christmas," she told him. "How far away is that?"

"Oh, erm, three days away I think." Newt told her, scratching the back of his head.

"Three days?" ______ exclaimed. "I didn't think I was asleep that long!"

Newt shrugged. "I don't usually celebrate Christmas," he told her.

"Well, isn't that because you've been travelling for years?"

"I guess so, yeah. I didn't really have the time to slow down and celebrate."

"We should celebrate!" ______ exclaimed.

"I don't know," Newt began. "I think it might be too late. Christmas is a lot of work."

"I'm sure we can do it! I'll be fun! Your first Christmas in years, and my first one in Britain. C'mon, please?" she asked, looking into Newt's eyes.

He always did have a hard time saying no to those eyes.

"Alright," he told her. "Where do you want to start?"

"Really?" ______ asked, her face lighting up. "Thank you!" she threw her arms around him by instinct, and in slight shock, he wrapped his arms around her too. She pulled away slightly, her hands still on his shoulders and his arms around her waist. "We should get a tree first. A _real_ tree."

"Where can we get one this last minute?" he asked.

"Um, I know tree lots are always open until Christmas back in America, but do you thing one would still be open this late here?"

"It's worth a try," he told her. They let go of each other, but Newt hesitated for a moment before taking her hand in his. It still slightly embarrassed him. It was silly, but just holding her hand meant a lot to him. It reminded him of the first time they met, her hands were so warm. Yet when he tried reaching up her sleeve, well, things went downhill in his plan very fast.

They walked away from the docks, walking around the busy streets for a while. After walking for what seemed like an hour in the cold, they finally found a tree lot. It looked almost bare, most of the trees already gone. "There's one!" ______ exclaimed, starting to run towards it. Newt squeezed her hand and ran next to her to keep up.

They walked into the lot, seeing only workers scattered here and there. They all gave the two of them strange looks, thinking why they'd get a tree this late in the game. Nevertheless, one worker approached them. "Is there anything I can help you two with?" they asked in a cheery voice.

"Oh, we're just looking for a tree. About medium sized, it would have to fit in house with a nine-foot ceiling," Newt told them. "Do you have one short enough?"

"I believe we do, follow me," the worked told them, and brought them to a small section with maybe three trees left in it. "We don't have many smaller trees left, I apologize."

"It's fine, I know it's a little late to be getting a tree." He walked up to one that was only about a foot taller than he was, putting it at about seven feet. "How much for this one?"

"Sixty pounds," the worker told him. "The price has been reduced since not many people have been shopping."

 _Shoot,_ Newt thought to himself. _All I have is wizard money._ Right as he began to open his mouth to say he didn't have it, ______ pulled out a wallet from her jacket. "Sixty pounds?" she asked, opening it. "They forgot to exchange the money I had when I got here, can you help me?"

"Oh, you're a foreigner?" the worker asked. "Where from?"

"America," she told the worker. "That's why we're so late getting a tree, we've been travelling."

"America," the worker repeated. "Should've guessed from the accent. Sixty pounds is about seventy-five US dollars, if you can give me that, it'll be fine. We can exchange it."

______ looked through her wallet. "I only have seventy," she told the worker. "I'm sorry, do you have any cheaper trees?"

"Seventy will work fine," the worker told her. "It's just a few off. I won't say anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. 'Tis the season, after all."

"Thank you," ______ said, handing over the money. She turned to Newt. "How're we going to get this home?"

"We can ship it," the worker told her. "Didn't mean to eavesdrop, sorry, but we add shipping it in with the tree if you need it. We can have it up in a matter of hours since we're not busy."

"Thank you!" ______ exclaimed. Newt gave them the address, and as the worker walked away to go talk to their co-workers, they said the two of them were free to leave. They walked out of the lot, still holding hands.

"Anything else you wanted?" Newt asked her.

"Nothing I can get right now. I wanted to get you a present, but I can't if you're around. It would ruin the surprise."

Newt raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just spend all your money on that tree?"

"Not all of it," ______ admitted. "I purposely kept some money so I could get you something."

"You don't have to, you know."

"I know, but I want to. You've been taking care of me all this time among everything else you've already done for me, so it's the least I can do. Really."

"Everything seems to be the least you can do with you," Newt joked, smiling at her.

"That's because I feel like I owe you everything. You saved my life."

"You saved mine first," he told her. "I'd be dead on that rooftop if it weren't for you."

"We both would be," she said. "That's something I don't want to think about," she looked away, almost feeling her arm by reflex.

Even while she was in a coma, her arm had "healed," leaving the scar Newt knew would be there. The one he knew would stay forever.

_Muggle._

"Let's not think about it then," he told her, gently turning her chin towards him and looking into her eyes, trying to comfort her. "Let's go home."

She nodded silently, wrapping her arms around Newt. He looked around to make sure no one was looking, pulled out his wand, and with a swish, they were out of there.

Once ______ felt her feet on solid ground again, she opened her eyes and let go of Newt. "Did you celebrate Christmas when you were a kid?" she asked, looking around.

"At Hogwarts," he told her. "They always threw a big celebration, even though most kids went home. I never did, I liked to stay there and read up on the very few books they had about magical creatures. I know my parents did though."

"Do you think they might have left a few things here?" she asked.

"If they did, it would be in the attic." Newt told her. He got his wand out, pointing towards the ceiling. "Accio."

After hearing a few crashing sounds, soon a box came towards them, setting itself in the dining table. They walked over to the box, opening it up. It was filled with a few ornaments, tinsel, bells and garlands. ______ smiled, looking into the box. "This will be perfect," she said, pulling out the bells and garland. "Until the tree gets here, we can set these up."

Newt decided to work with the garland, setting it up on the walls since he was tall, and ven if he couldn't reach it, he could use magic. Meanwhile, ______ walked around the house, placing bells on shelves and tying them to doors. She even put a bell on a string and tied it loosely on Morrow's neck. "Now we can hear you when you walk around," she said when tying it. "That way you won't get lost."

As soon as ______ helped putting the last touches together with the garland, there was a knock at the door. Newt held Morrow as he began to bark when ______ opened the door. "I guess she was really the only exception with Muggles, wasn't she?" Newt spoke to him. "I'll take him into the other room, they're not allowed to see him if he has two tails."

"Alright, I'll deal with the tree," ______ told him. She opened the door and greeted the workers, inviting them in and helping them place it in the living room, where she and Newt cleared a spot. "Thank you for helping us so last-minute."

"No problem," they told her. "It's nice we get to help a couple like you two out on the holidays. You seem very happy together."

______ felt her face flush. _We are a couple now, aren't we?_ She asked herself. _I shouldn't get so red over it._ "We are," she told them. "Anything I can get you guys?"

"No, we'll be leaving now," they told her. "Hope to see you again!"

"You too!" she called after them, showing them out. Once she closed the front doors, she called out for Newt in the other room. "They're gone!" she shouted.

She heard Morrow's bell ringing as he came running out of the room, Newt following behind him. "Everything go well?" he asked.

"Come see for yourself," she told him, leading him into the living room. Newt looked at the bare tree in his living room, it was already adding a different atmosphere in the house. A calming one, a nice one. It made the room smell of pine, a smell he strangely loved. "Are you ready to decorate it?" she asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Of course," he told her, and they headed to the box, grabbing the tinsel and ornaments. He wrapped the shiny, golden decoration around the tree as ______ hung up the ornaments. It took little to no time working together, and in ten short minutes, the tree was finished. They each took a step away from it, admiring their handiwork.

He stared at the tree for a moment. It seemed so surreal, seeing a tree in here after years of nothing. It finally hit him, he was doing Christmas. He was going to celebrate it for the first time in years, and he was lucky enough to get to celebrate it with ______.

 _I must be the luckiest guy alive,_ he thought to himself. He wasn't sure what she saw in him. He wasn't good at social interaction, he couldn't hold eye contact very well, he rambled on constantly about beasts, and he _broke into her house the first time they met._ That was a recipe for an awkward story you'd never tell, but he was lucky enough for her to understand. She had patience with him, and by a miracle, she loved him.

 _I must be the luckiest guy alive,_ he repeated in his head, looking over at ______ and smiling. She was still staring at the tree. "It's so beautiful," she spoke aloud.

"It is," he responded, not looking over at the tree. ______ looked over at him, looking into his eyes. She could get lost in an ocean of blue when she made eye contact with him. Both distracted by the other's eyes, Newt interrupted the comfortable silence. He cleared his throat, trying not to look away in habit as he managed to get out, "Would it be alright if I kissed you?"

She smiled at him, bringing her hand up and lightly caressing his cheek. "It's always alright for you to kiss me."

A smile flashed across his face, and his hands went to her face, cupping her cheeks in his hands. It was like the world fell away, and ______'s hands went to his shoulders, gripping them as she kissed him back. As they pulled away, Newt went back and kissed her nose softly, causing a blush to spread across her face.

______ hesitated for a moment, thinking about her words. "This might be a silly question," she began. "But am I allowed to start calling us a couple now?" She asked, looking away for a moment as she waited for his answer.

Newt smiled, taking her chin and lovingly turning her head towards him. "You're always allowed to call us a couple," he told her, slightly-repeating her words from before.

She smiled back at him, pulling him into a hug. He hugged her back, and her head faced his neck as his head rested on hers. Her mind wandered back to what Queenie told her earlier.

_"If it's not love already, with how strongly you both feel, it will turn into love soon. Real, true, genuine love."_

"I think I might love you," she impulsively whispered, not thinking about the words before they left her mouth. Well, of course she thought of the words inside her head, she just didn't think she'd say them out loud so soon.

Newt froze up at first. _Did I just hear what I think I heard?_ He thought. Suddenly, it was like he was on a different plane of existence. All of his feelings before about ______ connected, and it was like they were the last two people on earth.

He didn't know when it happened, but he knew one thing: he felt the same way. He didn't know what to call it at first, all he knew was that when she was fading away, her pulse getting weak, and when she wouldn't wake up, a piece of him felt like it was missing.

"I think I might love you too," he whispered as he tilted his head down, kissing the top of her head softly and sweetly. "I definitely might love you."


	22. 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we get into the long-awaited chapter, a quick note: there's a mini "split-path" in this chapter! I won't spoil it, but you'll know it when you see "*****." Alright? You'll know what to do from there, I'm sure of it. Just find the bold heading that applies to you.

______ woke up to something she hoped wouldn't become a habit: Morrow was jumping on her, excited and trying to lick her face.

"Eek!" she cried out, sitting up. Morrow only seemed to grow happier, his tails wagging as he put his head in her free hand. She sighed, petting the dog. "Why are you waking me up so early in the morning, boy?"

The dog jumped off her bed, and as she followed him out of the room, he pushed open the mostly-closed door to Newt's room. ______ stood outside the door, hesitant to go inside. Passing the window, she saw that it was barely even light outside, and she didn't expect that Newt would be up so early.

Morrow began to whine a little in the room, wanting her to follow him in. ______ drew in a sharp breath. "Not so loud!" she whispered. "You'll wake him up. I'm coming, I'm coming." She looked around, as if making sure no one would see her (even though she knew they were the only two in the house) and headed into the room.

Newt was still fast asleep in bed, his hair dangling in front of his face in his sleep. As she looked at him, it reminded her of back in New York, when she had come into his room that one time and heard him mumble her name in his sleep. _I still want to know what that was about,_ she thought to herself. As Morrow made another small whine though, she turned her attention to him. "What is it buddy?" she asked.

Morrow went up to Newt's case and laid down next to it, as if trying to say he wanted something inside the case. Then it hit her.

Morrow wanted food, and Newt probably had all of it in his case.

She looked over at Newt. The only time she had been in his case without him was when he had told her to hide in there. She didn't want to intrude, but at the same time, Morrow needed to eat. "Sorry," she whispered to Newt. She looked at the case and opened the latches, stepping inside with Morrow following her.

Once inside, Morrow ran right over to where Newt kept some of the food, sniffing it and trying to grab at it with his paw. ______ laughed softly. "Alright, I'll get you some." Moving past Morrow, she opened the door to the little storage space, looking at all the food in front of her. _Which one of these is dog food?_ She thought to herself.

"It's the round container," ______ heard a voice from behind her.

As she spun around, she saw Newt in his night clothes, jumping down the rest of the ladder. "Sorry!" ______ exclaimed, stepping away from the food and looking at him. "Morrow wanted food, and you were still asleep. I didn't want to wake you up."

"I'm not upset," he told her, smiling slightly. "I was just surprised. You left the case open, you know."

"Sorry..." she trailed off. "Anyways, good morning."

"Good morning," he told her. He kneeled down, grabbing the container Morrow had been sniffing and opening it, pouring some out onto the lid. Morrow ate it hastily, and Newt turned back to her. "Do you want to help me feed the rest of them?"

"I always do," she said excitedly. As Newt grabbed some of the other food, they went around, helping feed everyone else.

When it came to the Bowtruckles, Pickett came out from the pocket of Newt's nightshirt. He ran up to his hand, grabbing the food Newt had in his hands. "Pickett," Newt began. "Do you really not want to be with the rest of them? They're not going to bully you."

As if just to contradict Newt, the rest of the Bowtruckles began to hiss at Pickett. Pickett had a fearful expression on his face as he went from Newt's hand back onto his shoulder. Newt sighed. "This is why they think I pick favorites."

______ laughed softly watching the exchange. "You just don't have the heart to put him somewhere you know he'll be unhappy," she observed.

"Well..." Newt began, trying to find another way to put it. A way to explain it so he had solid reasoning, but he didn't really have any. "Yeah, there's no point putting him somewhere he wouldn't like."

"That's another thing to add on the ever-growing list of 'Ways Newt Loves His Creatures.'"

"Sounds like an excellent book idea. I can publish it along with _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."_

"No, this one's a personal copy. My eyes only, after all, I would have to update it too often for there to be only one official copy. You prove it in different ways every day."

Newt laughed. "Everyone's fed now."

"Everyone but us," ______ told him. "Let's go make breakfast."

She took his hand in hers, causing a small, unnoticeable blush to come onto Newt's face. She finally knew her way around the suitcase, and she led them out. Newt remembered to close it this time, and they leaded into the kitchen.

As ______ began to get out things to cook with, Newt smiled a little and began to talk. "Did you know we could cook faster using magic?" he asked, looking at her with a small smile.

Her eyes lit up. "We can?" she asked excitedly. "Then why weren't Tina and Queenie using it the entire time they cooked while they were here?"

"They thought it might be a little more familiar for you," he told her. In all honesty, he thought it would be too. In some little part of his mind, he thought that maybe if he hand-made everything instead of musing magic, it would seem more familiar. That maybe there was a special something you'd get from hand-making it that you couldn't get with magic. Maybe it sounded silly, but he believed it.

"Can you show me?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, can you show me what cooking with magic is like?"

"Of course," he told her with a small smile, and as he pointed his wand, various things around the kitchen began to float. She stared in amazement as eggs were cracked in mid-air, bread flew around overhead, cups were pulled out of cupboards and drinks pulled out of the fridge.

In a matter of maybe thirty seconds or a minute, an entire breakfast was made in front of her, and already dished out onto plates. She just stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. She looked over at Newt, a half-smile on his lips as he put his wand away. "Wow," she said, looking at him. "And here I've been, cooking everything by hand. That was amazing."

"Maybe," he told her. "But it may not be as good as your cooking. You always have a special something you can't get from magic."

"And your magic has a special something you can't get from me."

They smiled at each other and grabbed a plate, heading to the dining table and beginning to eat. The Christmas decorations around them added a certain, home-like feeling that the place didn't have before. Newt hadn't been there in years, and at first, it still seemed so alien. Like the house was frozen in time. But with ______ there, everything seemed to light up again. There was life in the house, and it didn't feel like a fixed-point in time anymore. It felt real again, and it had everything to do with ______.

She made everything feel alive.

"It's Christmas Eve," he told her, and she looked up from eating.

"It is, isn't it?" she asked, a small smile on her face. "I still want to get your present."

"I want to get one for you too," he told her. "But I want to take you somewhere else too."

She gave him a questioning look. "Where?"

"There's this place I've always wanted to take someone else to ever since I was in school," he began excitedly. "Everyone loved going there when we were in school. I haven't been there in years, and I thought it might be fun for the two of us to go there."

"What is it?" she asked, a smile on her face.

"It's called Hogsmeade. It's an all-wizarding village, and they used to let us go up there on the weekends back in school."

"All wizarding?" she thought for a moment. "Are you sure I'd be allowed to go there?"

"Of course," he told her. "I mean, I don't see why you wouldn't be allowed to as long as you stick by me. It'll be lots of fun, what do you say?"

She thought for a moment. Newt seemed ecstatic about showing her this village, but she was worried. She didn't want to get either one of them in trouble, but like Newt's told her many times before, wizard laws here were slacker when it came to Muggles.

 _That doesn't mean all wizards like them,_ she thought, and almost subconsciously, her hand rubbed over her arm, where her scar rested.

_Muggle._

She shook her head. She didn't want one bad experience to mark how she saw wizards, and she would _not_ allow Maverick to dictate her life from beyond. She wouldn't become cautious and scared of other wizards just because of him. _Maverick was evil,_ she thought. _But that doesn't mean they all are. There are other wizards, wizards who thought like Newt._

Right?

After a pause, she looked back at Newt and nodded, smiling. "I'd love to go," she said. "But I also want time to get your present."

"Really?" He responded happily, his face lighting up. "Right then! We can leave around one maybe, that would give us time to get ready and go buy presents, wouldn't it?"

She nodded. "It should be enough time. We'll have to split up though, you're not allowed to see what I get you!"

"Alright," he said with a smile. "It's been a long time since I celebrated Christmas," he looked around at all their decorations they put up, a warm feeling spreading through his body. "I can't wait."

"It's exciting, isn't it?" she thought aloud. "My first Christmas in Britain, and my first Christmas with you." she smiled widely and looked at him. "I can just tell this is going to be great."

"So can I," he smiled at her. He stood up, grabbing his empty plate and hers. "Anyways, we should be getting ready then!"

As they washed up and got ready for the day, so many ideas for gifts passed through his mind. What did he want to get her the most? He could think of a million things he could get her, but he wanted to get her something special. Something meaningful.

Then he got an idea. Why not get her something that mixed perfectly?

As he got a picture for what he wanted to get her, he knew exactly where he would go first.

In the meantime, ______ was at a complete loss for what she wanted to get Newt. She wanted to get him everything, but she just couldn't settle on one thing. _Maybe I can just hop around the shops until I find something,_ she thought to herself.

Newt and ______ met up in the living room, and Newt looked at her. "Ready to go to town?" he asked her with a smile.

She nodded. "Remember, we split up and meet back where we started in the afternoon," she told him. "That should be enough time to find what we're looking for, right?"

"Should be," he said with a smile. She held onto Newt, what seemed like normal now. Still, every time she wrapped her arms around him and he wrapped his around her, she felt like she was in the safest place she could be.

With a wave of his wand, they were soon in an alleyway in the heart of the city. As they looked out of the alley, they saw people walking, and Newt turned to ______. "Alright, twelve o'clock, right here."

"Exactly," she told him. "Since it's still present-buying season, there's going to wrappers everywhere. If they wrap the presents, then there's no way of spoiling the surprise."

"Sounds perfect," Newt said with a smile. They still had their arms wrapped around each other, and before they went their separate ways to find presents, he looked into her eyes. "Before we go..." he trailed off, leaning down and kissing her quickly on the lips. The kiss didn't even last a second before he pulled away nervously, his face red. It was the first time he kissed her without asking first, and there was a look or surprise but joy on ______'s face. "For good luck. May we find what we're hoping for."

She smiled, standing taller and kissing his cheek. "Hopefully," she told him. Even with the cold air around them biting them, his face was blazing now.

They let go of each other, walking out of the alleyway and going their separate ways. While ______ was bouncing from store to store looking for the perfect gift out of the ideas she had, Newt knew exactly where he wanted to go.

He snuck into another alleyway, and taking a deep breath, apparated somewhere he could use his own money.

Diagon Alley.

Arriving in the wizard shopping center, he smiled, the familiarity hitting him. _I haven't been here in so long,_ he thought, beginning to walk. _I bet this will be the same feeling when we get to Hogsmeade._

After two hours spent shopping and wrapping (or, rather, watching other people wrap), ______ headed back to the alley she and Newt agreed on meeting in. She finally found something for Newt, and she couldn't wait until he unwrapped it tomorrow.

He couldn't wait for her to see her present either. He had to apparate home, it wasn't a small box. She held hers, and upon seeing Newt already in the alley way, walked up to him. He seemed distracted, looking down the alley and fiddling with his hands. "Newt," _______ called out, and he spun around fast, making her laugh softly. "I'm ready to go. Are you?"

"Oh, yes," he told her. "I dropped my box off at home, so let's go drop yours. Then, to Hogsmeade!"

______ smiled at Newt's excitement. Seeing him so happy, she couldn't help but smile. He had a charm to him, and she always wanted to see him happy. Anytime she saw a smile on his face, or when he got excited, or when he started rambling about something he's passionate about, she couldn't help but smile and be happy with him. "Let's go then!" she exclaimed happily, wrapping her arms around him.

With a flick of his wand, they were back home, and Morrow was jumping at them, excited that they were back. His tails were wagging, and he whined softly for attention. Newt leaned down and started petting him. "We were just out," he told him. "And we're about to go again. We'll be back tonight, right at feeding time. Don't you worry."

"I'm going to go put this under the tree," ______ told Newt, gesturing towards her present. "Then we'll head off."

"Perfect," Newt said, not looking away from Morrow. "You're like Pickett, aren't you?" he said with a smile. "Attachment issues. Well, makes sense why you waited outside that castle all night when we first met." Newt stood up, and Morrow jumped up on his legs. "Come on boy, we won't be long, okay? We'll be back tonight." Newt reassured him, patting him on the head.

Just then, ______ came back from the living room. "Alright, I'm ready," she said with a smile. Newt looked over at her.

"Just one thing," he told her suddenly, going out of the room. He came back with his case, flicking the lock and opening the case. She was surprise to see _actual_ objects in it, no longer a shadowed pit that she knew led to wonder. Before she could ask anything though, Newt pulled out a grey and yellow scarf, closing the case and turning to her. "Wear these," he told her, and he went up to her, gently wrapping the scarf around her neck, then proceeding to take off his jacket, hanging it over her.

"As much as I love wearing your clothes," she began with a small smile, slightly playing with one end of the scarf, "Why?"

"Remember how I said that some wizards claim they can sort of 'sniff' Muggles out?" Newt began, and ______ nodded. "Well, hopefully these will throw them off. Since I wear them all the time, they'll smell like me. Like wizard." He informed her, and then half-smiled. "I hope I don't smell too bad."

"I actually love the way you smell," she said impulsively. As soon as she realized what she said, her face started to change colors and she put a hand over her mouth before asking, "Did I just say that out loud?"

"You did," Newt told her, laughing a little. "You love my smell?" he asked, stepping closer to her.

"Anyways," ______ said, starting to change the subject. "What about the wizards like you? I mean, I remember you telling me that you can tell Muggles apart from wizards like a frequency. You can't trick a frequency, can you?"

"No," Newt began. "But you'll throw people off. You might be on a different frequency, but you'll smell like wizard. Plus, to boost, you're wearing my school's scarf. The wizard school I was telling you about, Hogwarts. So, at the very least they might think you're..." he trailed off. He didn't like using the word just because it had lots of negative connotations, but there wasn't another word he could think of. "A mudblood."

"A mudblood?" ______ asked. "What's that?"

"It's a wizard who was born from Muggle parents," he explained to her.

"That can happen?"

"Yeah, it happens all the time. There's a lot of people like that."

"Hm," she hummed. "Well, hopefully I can pass for one then. Are you sure this'll work?"

"It's just a precaution," he told her. "I'm sure you won't even need it."

"Won't you be cold?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, I am using your jacket."

"I'll be fine, we'll be indoors mostly anyways. I can't wait to show you everything Hogsmeade has to offer." He bounced a little. ______ smiled slightly and put her arms around him. Without his jacket, it's like he was closer than before. She rested her head against them, and soon enough, they apparated away.

Sooner than she expected, they were on the side of a snowy, busy street. She opened her eyes and looked around, watching as wizards were crawling the streets, the crunch of snow filling the air. She smiled, looking around at everything. For a wizard-only village, the commotion seemed... rather Muggle. She looked over at Newt, who was looking at her with a happy expression. "So," he began. "What do you think?"

"It seems... strangely familiar," she began. "But different. The air is different here. The commotion seems the same, but everyone's on a different level. It's hard to explain."

"That," he began. "Is what I meant by frequency. It's probably easier for you to feel now that you're the Muggle surrounded by wizards instead of me being the wizard surrounded by Muggles."

"Yeah," she nodded. "That's the word for it. Everyone's on a different frequency. This is how you feel around Muggles?"

"Something like that," he told her. "Only in a group. When I'm with you, it's different. You're not like others, I know that much. Even my creatures know that much," he told her with a small laugh, and Pickett stuck his head slightly out of his pocket. "Anyways," Newt continued on, letting go of their hug and taking her hand. "I know where to go first. Follow me."

Newt led her up the streets of Hogsmeade, and she couldn't help but stare in wonder at everything. Even though she was sure it made her stick out like a sore thumb, she didn't care. There was so much to take in, so much to pay attention to. She wanted to sink in every detail, she didn't want to miss a single thing.

Finally, they got to the front of what looked like a small tea shop. "Here we are," Newt breathed. "Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Back in school, if you could get a girl to come here with you, this was the ideal date spot. This was a Hogwarts student's definition of _romance."_ He laughed softly.

"Oh yeah," ______ began, a smile on her face. "Did you ever get any girls to come here with you?"

Newt shook his head. "I was too nervous to ask any of the girls, and none of them asked me," he told her. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the bravest when it comes to romance."

"You're good at it though," she assured him with a smile. "Come on them, let's go inside."

As the two of them headed into the shop, Newt was suddenly glad that no girls invited him here during his time at Hogwarts. The place was flooded with the color pink, the decorations were awfully tacky and frilly, and the tables were decorated with lacy napkins and china. ______ and Newt exchanged looks with each other. "Well," Newt began. "This is a little less romantic than I remember it being."

"Well, I'm sure it would make teenager's hearts flutter," she began. "But there comes to a point where the color pink can be overused."

"Let's go," Newt said, and as they began to turn around, a woman came up to them joyfully.

"Well aren't you two just a darling couple!" her voice rang out around the shop. "Hello and welcome to my tea shop. Can I get the two of you seated?"

"We were just leaving actually," Newt assured her with a smile. "Thank you though."

"Nonsense!" she cried out. "You just got here. Let me help the two of you to a cup of tea. Follow me!"

As she walked away, Newt turned to ______. "Well..." he began. "It would be a little rude to just slip out now. One cup of tea couldn't hurt, right?"

"I guess not," she responded. "This place just emits so many... different vibes."

They followed Madam Puddifoot over to a table by the window, taking a seat across from them. They were silent as Madam Puddifoot poured them some tea. "There we go!" she exclaimed happily. Before walking away, she looked at ______. "You look a little old to be a Hogwarts student," she said suddenly.

"Excuse me?" ______ said. _Why would she-_

"Oh, that's her old house scarf," Newt said, averting Madam Puddifoot's attention towards him. "We both went to Hogwarts years ago."

 _Oh, right,_ ______ thought. _I forgot Newt mentioned that this is his old school scarf._

"Ah!" Puddifoot exclaimed. "What brings you two to Hogsmeade?"

"We just wanted to go out somewhere before Christmas."

"So a date," she smiled and nodded, grabbing her teapot. "Well, I won't interrupt any longer then! I'll be on my way. You can pay up front after you're done."

As she walked away, ______ let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "You saved me back there," ______ told him. "I completely forgot I was wearing your scarf."

"I did too," Newt said. "Strange she thought you may have been a student. Most of them go home for holidays, though some stay behind for the Christmas celebrations."

"She didn't think I was a student, she said I looked a little old to be one."

"Well, you could pass for one if you needed to," Newt told her, smiling and taking a drink of his tea. He tried only focusing on ______, anywhere else he looked there were couples being _very_ touchy-feely, and it reminded him of Queenie and Jacob. Boy, when they flirted, it was like the rest of the world was completely tuned out.

Then again, that's how he felt when he was with ______.

"How long do you stay at Hogwarts for? I mean, until what age?"

"About seventeen or eighteen, it depends. I graduated a little late since they kicked me out for a year."

"They kicked you out?" ______ exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"I may have accidentally let a creature loose in the castle and caused havoc," he said in a small voice, drinking his tea. "No one got hurt, but they told me I was 'endangering students,' so they gave me the boot for a year."

"Wow," ______ shook her head. "Silly they kicked you out if no one got hurt. At least they let you back in though."

"I can thank Dumbledore for that," Newt started. "He was one of my professors. He argued my case, he was ultimately the reason why I was let back in."

"I hope one day I might get to meet him," ______ said with a smile. Finishing their tea, they managed to decline Madam Puddifoot's offers for cake, pay, and leave the crowded tea shop.

"Where to next?" ______ asked Newt, turning to him and smiling. His nose was a little red in the cold, and his freckles seemed more noticeable, countless as he looked around.

"The Three Broomsticks," he told her, smiling and taking her hand. "There's this absolutely wonderful drink I want you to try there." As he led her once again through the streets of Hogsmeade, they stopped in front of a large, densely populated inn. "Here we are," Newt said, smiling and heading inside.

There were tables and chairs filling the room, and the bar was mostly full, wizards and witches alike drinking from goblets and laughing amongst themselves. While ______ stood there, taking it all in, Newt walked the two of them over to the bar. "Two butterbeers please," he said, taking Sickles out and setting them on the bar. After they were handed the drinks, they found a table and sat down. Newt smiled, seeing how mesmerized ______ seemed. "What do you think?"

"I like this place a lot better than that tea shop," ______ began, breaking her eyes away from the surroundings and looking over at Newt. "It's not so sickly-sweet. What did you say you got us to drink?" she asked suddenly. She wasn't listening much when Newt ordered the drinks, and there was a goblet before her, a golden foam collected at the top of it.

"It's called Butterbeer," Newt told her. "It's the most popular drink in this place. Try it," he told her, watching her with a smile on his face.

______ held the drink up to her lips, drinking it. At first, all that hit her mouth was foam. Sweet foam, and it reminded her of butterscotch, or caramel. As soon as she got past it though, the actual drink his her, and it was like liquid, carbonated candy. She set the drink down for a moment, the sweetness still in her mouth. Newt, who had been watching her expression the entire time, asked "What do you think?"

"It's so sweet," ______ said with a smile. "It's really good."

Newt felt a smile spread across his face, taking a drink of his own. "I haven't had it for years," he pointed out. "It tastes just like I remember."

They sat at the Three Broomsticks for about two hours, talking and drinking and having fun. ______ let Newt ramble on about memories he had at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, and as the sun began to set, Newt looked outside. "Looks like it's getting late," he observed with a sigh. "We have time for one more place I wanted to show you."

"Just one more?" ______ asked, a little disappointed.

"We have to get back for dinner, there's not too many places to have a nice dinner out here. Besides, we can always come back another day."

"Alright," ______ said, standing up. Newt took her hand and squeezed it assuringly, heading out of the inn. They walked the now calmer streets before standing outside the last place Newt wanted to bring her: Honeydukes.

He headed inside with her, and her eyes widened at the barrels of sweets that laid before her. There were signs sticking out of them, labelling sweets like "Chocolate Frogs," "Licorice Wands," and "Every Favor Beans." She let go of Newt's hands, walking along the aisles of barrels, looking at every sweet. Newt followed behind her, occasionally reaching into one of the barrels and pulling out a candy that caught his eye. He finally caught up to her, standing by her side. "Any sweet that catches your eye?"

______ reached into the barrel next to her, pulling out a box labeled "Chocolate Frog." She turned around and showed it to Newt, a smile on her face. "This one," she said. "It sounds especially wizard-y."

He laughed. "Well, I guess you could say that. The chocolate is actually enchanted so that it moves around like an actual frog."

"Really?" she asked excitedly, looking at the box and smiling. "Then this is definitely the one that catches my eye."

"Then I'll get it," Newt said, taking it carefully from her hands.

"You don't have to," she shook her head.

"I'm already getting a few other things," he told her. "I thought I might put a few sweets in our stockings so it looks like we bought some stocking-stuffers. They'll be fun to eat in the morning."

"Alright then," she told him, and they turned to get in line.

Newt got up to the counter and paid, only costing a few Sickles for all the sweets. He looked around the shop one last time. "You know," he began, talking to ______. "When I was in school, someone told me that there was a secret passageway that second-years and third-years without permission slips use to get from Hogwarts to here."

"Really?" ______ asked in wonder. "Did you ever use it?"

"No, I don't actually know if it was just a rumor or not. A few of the upperclassmen used to try to trick some of the Hufflepuffs into believing things like that so they could gang up on them and rob them. I didn't want to take any chances."

"Oh," ______ said in a small voice. "Well, maybe they were right. Where did they say it led?"

"To the back of Honeydukes, behind some casks there's supposedly a secret door." Newt told her.

"Can we check it out?" ______ asked excitedly. She was terribly curious, she wanted to know if she rumors were true or not.

Newt thought for a moment. "Well, I guess there's no harm in checking, right?" He took her hand and looked around the shop, checking if any workers were looking. Thanks to the holiday rush, none of the workers gave a second glance to the pair of them. "Come on," he whispered to ______, and they snuck into the backroom, checking to make sure no workers followed them.

There were lots of unopened boxes, crates, and just a few casks. "Over here," ______ pointed. "Are those the casks you were talking about?"

"Could be," Newt said, and the pair of them crept towards the casks. Moving a few things aside, Newt was surprised.

The rumor was true.

Before them was a small trapdoor, just big enough that if he knelt he could get into it. A small, subconscious smile crept onto Newt's face. "Looks like they weren't lying then," he said.

______'s excitement rose. "Can we go in?" she asked suddenly.

Newt looked at her. "Go in?" he asked in a worried voice. "Why would we go in?"

"I want to see Hogwarts!" ______ exclaimed. "You make everything sound so real, so familiar. Every time you start talking about it, I have a picture in my head. I want to see it for real."

"I don't know..." Newt started, trailing off. "We could get in a lot of trouble for it. When I say a lot of trouble, I mean a _lot_ of trouble."

"Come on Newt," ______ said, walking up to him. "Please? It doesn't have to be a long trip, I just want to see a glimpse. We don't even have to leave the passageway, I just want to see at least one room. Please?" she wrapped her arms around him, looking into his eyes.

 _Damn those eyes,_ Newt thought. They were the only ones he could never say no to, even if he really wanted to. "Alright," Newt said. "One short visit, then we head back home."

"Yes!" ______ exclaimed happily. Letting the moment take hold of her, she brought her hands up to Newt's face, standing taller and kissing him. Her lips still faintly tasted of Butterbeer, and his did too. The sweet taste was all Newt thought of when she pulled away suddenly. Slightly dazed at the sudden kiss, he was looking up when ______ said "Thank you. It means a lot to me."

He shook his head, snapping himself back into the moment. "Alright then," Newt said, getting out his wand and pointing it at the trapdoor. "Alohomora," he whispered, and the trapdoor flew open. Newt looked over at ______, a big smile on her face. "Let's go."

They both knelt down, getting on their hands and knees and crawling through the passageway. Newt followed in behind ______, closing the trapdoor and hearing it click shut. They crawled through absolute darkness for about five minutes until suddenly ______ felt stone in front of her. "Newt," she whispered, as if someone else could hear them. "I think we've reached the end."

______ pushed on the stone, and after a moment, got it to push open. She looked as a room began to open before her, dark and large. Newt looked over her shoulder from behind her, identifying the room. "The Defense Against the Dark Arts," he told her. "This is where they told me it was. I guess _everything_ was true."

"I thought we already established that," ______ joked.

Newt rolled his eyes, but a smile was in his face nonetheless. Seeing the old room, a heavy sense of nostalgia came over him, and suddenly, he wanted to get out of the passageway and into Hogwarts. He wanted to take ______ all around the grounds, showing her everything and tell her stories. He knew they would get in serious trouble if they got caught, but...

Right now, he wanted to show her something. Something besides _this_ at least.

An idea popped into his head, he knew exactly where he wanted to take her. It was probably the riskiest place of all, but he thought they could pull it off. If he remembered correctly, all the students and faculty should be at the Christmas Eve feast, and everyone would be preoccupied for a long time.

Long enough for them to pull it off.

"I have an idea," Newt began, looking at ______. "Go into the classroom."

"Are you sure?" ______ asked. Suddenly, it was if everything was sacred. She wanted to see more, but Newt was right. This could probably get them into kinds of trouble they couldn't wriggle their way out of.

"I'm sure. I want to show you something, it won't take very long."

"Okay..." ______ trailed off, carefully reaching out of the passageway and into the classroom. Shortly after the got solid footing, Newt followed her in. The passage closed behind them, and Newt and ______ turned to each other.

"Follow me," Newt told her, a smile on his face. He led her across the classroom and into the halls. He looked around before leading them out of the room, carefully roaming the halls.

"Where are we going?" ______ asked, struggling to keep up with Newt. He rushed like they were on a time limit. He knew they were, but she had no clue. She had no idea what this plan was, and while Newt ran down the halls with familiarity, she wanted to slow down and look at everything. It wasn't until a moving painting caught her eye she really did slow down. "Did that painting just move?" she asked aloud to Newt. When she didn't get a reply, she spun around.

Newt was gone.

"Newt?" she cried out, panic hitting her. "Newt! Where are you?" she looked all around her, but the wizard was nowhere to be found.

However, another one was.

While she was distracted, ______ didn't notice as a Ravenclaw-prefect snuck up behind her. "You!" he called out. "Hufflepuff girl."

______ reached for the scarf around her neck as she heard the words, a look of fear waving over her face. _He means me,_ she thought, and she sheepishly turned around. A boy who couldn't be older than seventeen stood before her, wearing black robes with a blue symbol in the corner and a "Prefect" badge. ______ nervously tried making herself look smaller, hoping to pass for a student suddenly. "Yes?" she asked in the most seventeen-year-old voice she could muster.

"What are you doing?" he asked, crossing his arms. "All students are supposed to either be in the Great Hall or in their common rooms. _Not_ roaming the halls."

"I was just..." she trailed off, thinking. "Going to the bathroom! I'm still going there, so if you'll excuse me-"

"The bathrooms are the other way," the prefect told her. "But nice try. Listen, I don't want to get anyone in trouble on Christmas Eve, so just come back to the Great Hall, okay?"

"But I still have to pee!"

"If you have to go to the bathroom," the prefect sighed. "Why are you roaming around here?"

______ hesitated for a moment. Looking around while trying to think, she caught Newt in the corner of her eye hiding behind a wall away from the prefect. He had a terrified look on his face. Not only could they now get in trouble for breaking into the castle, ______ was a _Muggle._ This was against so many laws that did not have easy punishments. Newt tried making a "come over here" gesture, hoping they could run away from the prefect. ______ tried mouthing back "I have a situation" before the prefect spoke again. "Well?" he asked. "Are you going to answer me?"

______ thought fast, trying the one thing he hoped would drive him away.

"I was getting tampons!" she shouted, and the same look of shock came over both the prefect and Newt's face. She wished she stopped there, but because of nerves, she just kept rambling. "I bled through my robes so I changed into this, and I was heading to the nurse to get some medicine, and then I was going to head to-"

"Okay, okay, I believe you," he told her, an uncomfortable look on his face. Anyone would be a little uncomfortable after being told all that suddenly. "I'll let you get back to... that." He said, scratching the back of his head. "Do you, uh, need anything I can get you?"

"What are you offering?" ______ asked, not able to stop the words before they came out.

"Oh well... uh... my girlfriend likes chocolate when she's..."

"I'll be fine," ______ told him abruptly, ending his sentence. "Just, uh, can you pretend you didn't see me? It's kind of embarrassing."

"Of course," the prefect nodded, standing there for a brief moment. "I'll be going then. Um, I hope you feel better!" he said, trying to smile before turning and walking away. Watching him disappear from sight, ______ let out a sigh before turning back and running to Newt.

"Newt!" ______ exclaimed, hugging him when she got close. "Never separate from me again. I don't think I can trick any more teenagers."

"Sorry about that," Newt told her. "I didn't realize we had separated." He let go of the hug and took her hand. "From this point forward, I'm keeping hold of you." He smiled, kissing her hand softly as reassurance. "Still, I'm impressed."

"Impressed?" she asked. "By what?"

"Your quick lie," he told her, laughing slightly. "Well, at least you got him to go away."

"It was the first thing I could think of," she said, lightly pushing him. "Anyways, where to next?"

"Alright, we're not far from where I wanted to go. Come on," he pulled her behind him, the two of them running through the halls once again. ______ felt more nervous than before, worried that the prefect from before would show up again.

Eventually, they came to a large pair of doors. "Alright, ______. We're going to be breaking a lot of rules now," Newt told her. "Are you prepared for that?"

"I've been prepared since the beginning," she told him with a smile. "Bring it on."

Newt smiled at her, turning to the doors. _You'd think the headmaster would lock his doors,_ Newt thought. _Luckily, he must've trusted that no one would get in. Sorry, headmaster._ He took a deep breath in, pushing the doors open.

Both of their eyes widened as the doors opened and they walked insides. The shelves were full of many magical items, and there were more books on the shelves that ______ thought she might ever have the time to read. "Woah," they both spoke at the same time, turning to each other and smiling.

______ ran up to the books, examining each one carefully. She pulled things off shelves, reading the titles and smiling to herself. They were mostly wizard-related study materials, but for some reason, they made her so happy. It was like she just kept getting deeper and deeper into the world's biggest secret.

Meanwhile, Newt went over to look at the magical artifacts. He had an idea he hoped he could pull off, and for him to do it, he needed one of the artifacts: the Sorting Hat.

Newt reached up, grabbing the hat carefully. The hat woke up slowly, seeming like it just came from a deep slumber. Before it could say anything, Newt whispered to it. "Do you think... maybe... you could do a sorting for me?"

The hat seemed to move up to his face, as if signaling it was looking at him. "Newton Scamander?" it asked tiredly. "Hufflepuff."

"Not for _me,_ " Newt said suddenly before the hat tried going back to sleep. "For her," Newt turned the hat around, facing ______, who was still preoccupied looking at the books.

"Oh," the hat grumbled. "What are you doing, bringing a Muggle into Hogwarts?"

"She's not like the others," Newt shook his head. "But... please. Do you think you can sort her?"

"What good would it do? She's a Muggle. It won't mean anything."

"Then just for fun," Newt begged. "Please, it would mean a lot to me. It would mean a lot to this Hufflepuff."

The hat sighed. "Alright, but Newton Scamander, I hope you know what you're getting into."

"I don't really want to be scolded by a hat," Newt said sadly, scratching his head. "I'm sorry. That was rude. Thank you." Newt looked over at ______, putting a smile on his face. "______, come over here!" he called out to her. "I want to show you something."

______ turned around, putting down a book she was holding and walking up to Newt. "What is it?" she asked, looking at the hat in his hands. "A hat?"

"Not just any hat," he told her with a smile. "The sorting hat. Do you remember me telling you about the Hogwarts houses?"

"A little..." she told him. "Not much. All I remember is that there's four of them, and that you're a Hufflepuff."

Newt shrugged. "Fair enough, I haven't talked too much about them. Well, this is the hat. The magical hat that tells you what house you're in."

Her eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, smiling down at the hat. She could just imagine a young Newt sat down, the hat on his head while it shouted "Hufflepuff." _Newt must've been a cute kid,_ she thought to herself, smiling wider at the thought of it.

Newt smiled, seeing her excitement. "Put it on."

Her eyes widened. "I couldn't," she shook her head. "I'm not a wizard."

"It couldn't hurt," Newt told her. "I'm curious. Please?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.

She sighed. "I guess it couldn't..." she trailed off, and Newt smiled widely. He lowered the hat slowly on her head, and from the second it was on, he held his breath, nervous about her sorting. What would she be?

*********

**Slytherin Reader**

"Curious... very curious..." ______ could hear the hat whisper in her ears. She looked at Newt, who didn't seem to be able to hear the hat's voice. "And awfully funny too. To think a Muggle would be such a perfect fit for this house..."

"What is it?" ______ spoke aloud, and Newt gave her a questioning look.

"It's funny," the hat whispered. "They'd turn up their noses at you, yet you're such a fit for..." as the hat's whispers trailed off, ______ was holding her breath as the sorting hat spoke aloud. "Slytherin!" it yelled aloud, the echo bouncing off the walls of the room.

At first, nothing was said. ______ didn't quite know what it meant, and Newt was just shocked. "Slytherin?" he repeated. "Slytherin?" he began to laugh, putting hid head in his hands for a moment, a smile coming on his face. "Oh my Merlin," he began, still laughing. "I can't believe I'm _in love_ with a _Slytherin!"_

______ stared at Newt, unsure what to say. "Newt!" she called out, trying to snap him out of a laughing fit. "What is that supposed to mean? What's a Slytherin?"

Newt tried to stop laughing, calming down after a moment. "Slytherin's are usually known to be... how do I put this... _dark._ " He told her. "Of course, not all of them are, but some of their traits aren't what some people would call wholesome."

"Like what?" she asked, and Newt just smiled. "Come on, tell me!"

"Well..." he began, trying to think. "The two most people look at are cunning and self-preservation. They look down on those traits, 'self-preservation' usually meaning a number of things."

"Oh great," ______ spoke. "So you have me marked as dark now?"

"No," Newt told her. "I know better. I know _you,"_ he told her. "And you do posses some Slytherin traits. Some that are good ones, no matter what you try to argue. Like resourcefulness," he began. "You were awfully resourceful back at your apartment in New York. You used everything, and you didn't waste a dime. You used everything you had to its full potential, even if it wasn't much. You're determined, you didn't back down in front of Maverick. You didn't for a second give up on my creatures, and you didn't give in to the torture. And..." he trailed off for a second, wanting to phrase everything perfectly.

"And?" she asked, a small smile on her face.

"And you're clever. You're wonderfully clever. Not only back with that prefect when you thought up that lie, but at the castle too. You remembered everything about Maverick's plan, even when it only came down to little details. You never failed to let me know what was going on." He took his hands out, taking off the hat and cupping her face in his hands. "And that's why you're the best Slytherin I think I'll ever meet."

______ smiled. "I'm happy to be in Slytherin then."

**Hufflepuff Reader**

"Curious... very curious..." ______ could hear the hat whisper in her ears. She looked at Newt, who didn't seem to be able to hear the hat's voice. "I suppose maybe it's true, they gather together. After all, finding a Muggle who's the same as you..."

"The same?" ______ asked aloud, and Newt looked at her, a smile spreading across his face. _Wait,_ he thought. _Is she a Hufflepuff like me?_

His question was answered mere seconds later, as the Sorting Hat shouted, "Hufflepuff!"

Newt smiled widely, exclaiming, "Yes! We're in the same house!" He laughed a little, pulling the hat off of ______ and hugging her suddenly.

"Woah," ______ said, a smile on her face as she hugged back. "Wait, what does it mean?"

"What does Huffflepuff mean?" Newt asked, laughing a bit. "To think I talked about it all this time and you don't know..."

"Well you never went into specifics!" she pointed out. "All I know is that you're a Hufflepuff."

"And now you're one too," Newt told her. "I should've known, you're very Hufflepuff."

"How? What does it mean?" she asked, barraging him with questions. "Come on, don't leave me hanging."

"It means lot of things," Newt told her. "It means dedication, which you've got loads of. I mean, you have to be pretty dedicated to want to get this far into Hogwarts," he joked. "Dedicated to seeing it, that is. They're also patient, which you kind of have to be with me... thank you for that. I know I'm not the best socializer at first, and that it can get pretty annoying sometimes..."

"You never annoy me," ______ butted in. "I'll tell you that every time, too. You'll never annoy me."

He smiled. "Kindness is another trait you've got plenty of. We're loyal too," he continued. "Which is what I'm going to be to you. ______... I hope you mean it when you say I'm not annoying. Because from now on, I wouldn't want to be besides anyone else, and I'll be loyal to that statement. Like a true Hufflepuff."

______ smiled, standing up. "And I'll be one too," she began. "I'll be as loyal as you are, so I hope you mean that."

"I do," he told her, looking into her eyes. "I whole-heartedly do."

______ smiled, leaning her forehead against his. "I'm glad I got to be in Hufflepuff with you."

**Gryffindor Reader**

"Curious... very curious..." ______ could hear the hat whisper in her ears. She looked at Newt, who didn't seem to be able to hear the hat's voice. "Well, I guess to break into the castle, you have to be brave."

"What does that have to do with it?" ______ asked aloud, and Newt suddenly got even more nervous and confused.

"Well, with what I see in you, you're a perfect fit for..." as the hat's whispering trailed off, there was a moment before he shouted. "Gryffindor!"

______ sat there for a moment, confused, and Newt had an unreadable look on his face. "What does that mean?" ______ asked, breaking the silence. "What are Gryffindors?"

Newt kept thinking. "How did I not see it before?" he asked himself. "You're definitely a Gryffindor, through and through. I can see it," he kept on, a smile on his face.

"What does it mean?" ______ asked, looking Newt in the eyes. "Just because he said it, doesn't mean I get it."

"Oh, right," Newt began, snapping out of his thoughts. "Gryffindors widely represent two traits that I _know_ you have," Newt began, still smiling. "I've seen it firsthand."

"What traits?" ______ asked. "Don't stall, just tell me."

"Bravery is one of them," he began. "You've got lots of that. Bravery and courage, they sound similar but they're different, and you've got them both."

"Bravery and courage?" ______ asked, thinking. "I don't know..."

"You don't know?" Newt asked, laughing. "______, you're one of the bravest people I've ever met. You literally tried throwing your own life away to save me, or did you forget that?" he asked, taking the hat off and setting it on the desk. "And you've got so much courage. You tried standing up to Maverick, even after everything he did. You didn't back down when he threatened your life, you stood there and argued for me to choose my creatures. You weren't scared."

______ shook her head. "I wasn't scared. I was terrified. I didn't want to die."

"But you faced death," Newt told her, holding her shoulders. "Even if you were terrified, you faced death, and you threw yourself in front of swooping evil for me. That's the single bravest act I've ever seen, and I've seen many things."

______ couldn't help but smile, drawing a breath in. "Do you like Gryffindors?"

"I love them," Newt smiled back at her, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

"Then there's no other house I'd rather be sorted in."

**Ravenclaw Reader**

"Curious... very curious..." ______ could hear the hat whisper in her ears. She looked at Newt, who didn't seem to be able to hear the hat's voice. "Well, acceptance is a trait in this house, and for a Muggle, you seem to be very accepting..."

"What do you mean 'for a Muggle?'" ______ asked aloud, and Newt wanted to put his head in his hands for a moment. _Did he really have to mention that she's a Muggle?_

"I mean it in the best possible way. You could be many different places, couldn't you?" the hat whispered. "But I think your best place would be..." the hat trailed off before shouting its decision. "Ravenclaw!"

Newt smiled after hearing the decision. "I knew it!" he exclaimed, smiling. "I knew it, I distinctly remember thinking that you might be a Ravenclaw."

"Is 'thinking I might' really knowing?" ______ teased him gently. "Wait, what does Ravenclaw mean?"

"A Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff, hm?" Newt hummed, not hearing her question. "Well, soe people probably think it's funny, but I like the sound of it. Just goes to prove not _all_ Ravenclaws are rude to us Hufflepuffs."

"Newt," ______ called out, getting his attention. "What does it mean?"

"Oh, right," Newt said, laughing a little. "Sorry, I was just thinking out loud. Ravencalws intelligent, creative, individual, accepting..."

"Accepting?" ______ asked. "The hat mentioned something like that. He said for a Muggle, I was very accepting."

Newt smiled, knowing what he meant. "It's true. You're far more accepting of wizard culture than any Muggle I've ever seen. Now that I think about it..." Newt trailed off, thinking. "You're the only Muggle who never panicked or got nervous when you first saw magic. You were intrigued, fascinated, and you immediately wanted to know more," he laughed softly. "Just like a true Ravenclaw."

______ smiled. "Now that I think about it, you _might_ have said something about me being a Ravenclaw earlier..." she began, trailing off.

"See!" Newt exclaimed. "I knew it!" Laughing, he took the hat off of ______'s head. "What do we need this hat for when I already know you're a Ravenclaw?"

"Don't get too full of yourself," ______ teased him. "I did say you _might_ have said something."

"Oh come on, you have to give me credit. I did say it."

______ laughed softly, pretending to forget. "Sorry, I actually just forgot about it. What do you mean? You never said anything like that."

Newt rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile. "Well, I'm saying it now: you're a Ravenclaw, through and through."

______ smiled, leaning up and kissing Newt on the cheek. "There's nothing else I'd rather be."

*********

"Well, now that we've got that _sorted,"_ Newt joked, earning a chuckled and an eye roll from ______. "We should probably get out of here."

"You're right," ______ said, looking over at the clock. "I forgot that we're supposed to be home by now."

"What time is it?" Newt asked, and as he looked over at the clock, his heart sank and his face went pale.

"What is it?" ______ asked, looking from the clock to Newt. "What's wrong?"

"We have to go," Newt repeated, more serious now. He snatched the hat and put it back on the shelf quickly, then ran over and grabbed ______'s hand.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"The feast should've ended about ten minutes ago," Newt told her. "Which means that students should be heading back to their common room, and the headmaster should be heading-"

Before Newt could finish his sentence, the very man he feared walked through the door.


	23. 23

“What is going on here?”

A voice ______ didn’t know, but Newt knew all too well, rang out across the office. The two of them turned around to see a man at the doorway, a long beard and dark, shrewd eyes. ______ could tell from the immediate panic on Newt’s face that this was _not_ one of the “kind professors” he talked about all the time.

Newt was so shocked, he didn’t know what to do. If apparating was allowed in Hogwarts, the first thing he _would_ be doing is grabbing ______ and getting out of there. He knew, however, that wouldn’t work. They had been caught, and Newt had no idea what to do.

“Well, are you going to answer me?” as the headmaster narrowed his eyes, he realized that these weren’t misbehaving students. In fact, they weren’t students _at all._ One of them may have been wearing a Hufflepuff scarf, but it didn’t fool him. They were too old to be students.

Then, he realized something else.

He recognized one of them.

As Newt tried to think of something to say, something to do, some way to _react,_ the headmaster continued to speak. “Don’t I know you?” he asked.

Newt averted his eyes. “Well, um, I think you might…” he stalled, trailing off. He didn’t want to see the headmaster, much less have him recognize him. The headmaster didn’t exactly _like_ Newt, especially after the creature incident. Plus, if he got Newt’s name, even if they escaped, he’d be able to report them.

There was no good way this could end.

The headmaster kept his eyes fixated on Newt. “You were a student here, weren’t you? Did I expel you or something?”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Newt told him, avoiding looking at him still.

The headmaster shook his head. “No matter, you have no business in here,” the headmaster pulled out his wand, pointing it at them. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

Newt pulled out the first excuse he could think of, and sadly, it was a poor one. “Routine inspection,” he told him. “I’m from the Ministry. Just making sure Hogwarts is still keeping up with everything during the holidays.”

“Funny, I didn’t get a letter of notice.”

“Surprise inspection. That’s what gives the best results,” Newt continued. ______ stayed silent, completely unsure what to say or do. The scenario seemed so unreal, she had no idea how to react. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

The headmaster wasn’t buying anything. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at Newt, becoming more and more suspicious. “May I see your credentials?” he asked. “Surely if you’re from the Ministry, you must have some.”

“Oh, right,” Newt said, reaching for his pockets. Luckily, he did have a wallet in his jacket. As long as the headmaster didn’t look to closely at it (considering it does say _Beast Division_ on it), Newt thought that there might actually be a way. That they might actually get away with it.

He thought too soon, and he acted too quick. He didn’t even pay attention to what he was doing.

He turned around, facing ______. “I need my coat,” he whispered to her. “It has my wallet in it.”

______ nodded. “Yeah, of course,” she whispered back, beginning to take it off. The both of them were so shocked, they completely forgot the reason why she had the jacket on in the first place. The only thing going through their mind right now was trying to convince this man that they’re allowed to be there.

And as soon as the jacket came off, ______’s façade dropped.

The headmaster already had felt it from her. She didn’t give off the same vibe as a witch would, and he was smart enough to know not to trust his sense of “smell.” When Newt’s jacket came off of her, the only faint trace of wizard left on her was the Hufflepuff scarf that hung around her neck.

One he could tell didn’t belong to her.

“You,” he began, pointing at ______. “Are you from the Ministry as well?”

______’s eyes widened, being called out all of a sudden. “Oh, yes,” she began, thinking as quickly as she could. “I’m here to help with the inspection.”

“Come here,” he told her. “I just want to see your credentials.”

“Here they are,” Newt butted in, stepping in between him and ______. He opened his wallet, letting his Ministry of Magic ID flash. He didn’t give it to him, still worried about the _Beast Divisions_ label.

The headmaster didn’t do as much as glance at his credentials. “I want to see hers,” he insisted.

Newt hesitated, trying to think up an excuse. He couldn’t find a single one that came to mind, and in that moment, he knew it was over. The headmaster pushed past him, going up to ______. She just stood there, to shocked to move, not knowing where else to go or what else to do. There was no way out of this. He grabbed her by the jaw, looking her in the eyes. Newt felt a sudden wave of protectiveness. “I hardly think this is necessary-”

“You’re no witch,” the headmaster spat in a low tone. “You’re a Muggle, aren’t you?”

“No,” ______ tried denying. “I’m not, I’m-”

“You can’t fool me,” the headmaster shook his head, and then pushed her away. As soon as he let go of her, Newt stood between the two, feeling the need to protect her.

“Leave her alone,” Newt said, his voice completely changed.

“This is a huge offense, breaking into the castle. Not to mention with a Muggle.”

“I told you already, I’m from the Ministry-”

The headmaster laughed. “I’m no idiot.” The man whipped out his wand, and at the same swift moment, so did Newt. The headmaster raised his eyebrows, and as he saw Newt’s face up close and serious, he suddenly recognized him. “It’s you. The student who let a creature loose.”

Newt didn’t back down, keeping his wand pointed. The headmaster took his silence as a sign he was correct. “I remember you, I remember that case. You cause a lot of trouble for a lot of people, but they still made me let you back in. You just love getting into trouble, don’t you?” He continued, trying to get a reaction out of Newt. “And to think you’re going around with a Muggle...” he shook his head. “You must not have dignity.”

“Excuse me?” Newt asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Muggles,” he shook his head, and now he was looking past Newt, looking at ______. “Muggles have no business in the wizarding world, and they have no right to be in my school.”

“We’ll be on our way then,” Newt said. “Just let us leave.”

The wizard laughed again. “Are you kidding me? You’re in a lot of trouble, and this Muggle-friend of yours needs to be ridded of.”

“Ridded of?” ______ asked, worry clear in her voice.

“Obliviated,” he spat at her. “Obliviated and shipped away. Away from the wizarding world, where you have no business.”

______’s eye widened, hearing that word again. She remembered clearly what it meant, and her heart began to beat faster than she could think. _No,_ she thought. _I am not losing my memories._ The headmaster laughed at the look on her face. “Scared?” he asked. “Don’t worry, you won’t remember any of this.”

As the headmaster opened his mouth to conduct a spell, Newt reacted. “Expelliarmus!” he shouted, and the headmaster’s wand flew out of his hands. As the headmaster turned his attention back to Newt with a glare on his face, he continued to speak. “Sorry Headmaster Black, I can’t allow that.”

“Why is this Muggle so important to you?” he spat, but as soon as he asked the question, he didn’t need an answer. Based on the look in Newt’s eyes and how they had been behaving when he walked in, he had the idea. He rolled his eyes. “To think you’d love a Muggle…”

“You don’t get it,” Newt shook his head. “Would you not love your wife if she was a Muggle?”

“I would’ve never even looked at my wife if she were a Muggle,” he spat. “The Blacks are a line of purebloods, just like it should be.”

Newt shook his head again. “Then you don’t truly love her,” he said suddenly.

The headmaster’s face twitched. “You’re an idiot,” he told him, and picked his wand up from the ground. “And you’re going to Azkaban.”

As the wizard went to cast another spell, he got his with another.

One that didn’t come from Newt.

“Expelliarmus!” A wizard’s voice cried, and as his wand flew out of his hand, everyone turned to see another wizard standing at the door.

Newt’s eyes widened, recognizing the man. “Professor Dumbledore?” he asked, unbelieving.

______ stared at the wizard at the door. _This is Dumbledore?_ She asked herself, thinking back on everything newt had said about him. She knew that Newt respected him greatly, and although she hoped she might meet him one day, she never thought it would actually happen.

And she never thought it would happen like this.

“What are you doing here, Albus?” the headmaster asked impatiently. He never really liked Dumbledore, in fact, he was one of his least favorite Professors. He didn’t understand his want to understand to understand the students, he only thought it was a waste of everyone’s time.

“I came to speak with you, Phineas,” he spoke calmly. “I didn’t realize we had,” he cleared his throat, looking at Newt and ______. “Guests.”

“They’re hardly guests,” he snapped. “This wizard and his _muggle_ girlfriend broke into Hogwarts and broke into my office. They are to be punished.”

“That is not our call, headmaster,” Dumbledore assured him. “We must call the Ministry.”

“I’m from the Ministry,” Newt tried bringing in again, attempting to lessen their punishment. “They know I’m here.”

“Do they?” the headmaster asked, turning away from Dumbledore. “Do they know about the Muggle too?”

Newt shook his head. “Leave her out of this, your business here is with me.”

“You’re truly an idiot,” the headmaster shook his head. As he made a quick go for his wand again, Newt pulled his wand out again, but he was a few seconds short. The headmaster began reciting a spell. “Obli-”

“Stupefy!” Dumbledore called out, and suddenly, Black fell to the ground, stunned and knocked out. Dumbledore stood there, his wand out in front of him, as shocked as everyone else in the room was.

“Did…” Newt began. “Did you just stun the headmaster?”

“I believe I did,” Dumbledore said, putting his wand back to his side. “I never liked his approach to Muggles and Muggle-borns.”

 _Muggle-borns,_ Newt thought. _That’s the word I was looking for earlier._ “Dumbledore,” Newt began, his voice already pleading. “I’m sorry all about this, I-”

“Don’t tell me,” Dumbledore began. “As far as I know, you’re here from the Ministry. Have you got a badge?”

Newt gave him a confused look. “Right here,” he said, pulling out his wallet and giving it to Dumbledore. “Why?”

“Well, as far as I can see, you’re here from the Ministry,” Dumbledore repeated. “So you and this young lady can do whatever _Ministry_ business you are here to do, and I have no reason to report you.”

Newt began to get the hint, but he was still confused. _Why is Dumbledore helping me?_ He asked himself in his head. Newt never caused him anything but trouble, he didn’t know why Dumbledore continued to help him out. He shook his head, he didn’t have time to question it right now. “We’ll be on our way then,” Newt said, and exchanging looks with ______, began to walk out of the room.

However, ______ wanted to stay behind one moment longer.

“Excuse me?” ______ asked, looking at Dumbledore.

“What is it?” he asked, giving her a kind look. ______ could tell he didn’t believe their act for a second, but he was still trying to help them. It was exactly the kind of thing she could see him doing after hearing all the stories Newt told about him.

She smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard lots of great things about you. I would just like to thank you for all that you’ve done for us, for me, tonight.”

“It is my duty to assist the Ministry,” he told her, half-smiling.

“Yeah,” she smiled back and nodded. “I hope to see you again.” Giving a small wave, she walked out of the room, meeting with Newt again. She looked at him, and they both had the same look of _did that really just happen?_

“Are you ready to go?” he asked her, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. All of his fun ideas to show her around Hogwarts disappeared after that, and all he wanted to do was get home with her, where he knew she’d be safe.

“As I’ll ever be,” she told him, giving him a reassuring smile.

As they took each other’s hands, they started to head back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Back to Honeydukes, away from Hogwarts.


	24. 24

As they got back to Honeydukes, ______ turned to Newt. After everything that happened, it was hard to process everything that happened until the moment they stepped out of the cramped passageway.

“Did we just break into Hogwarts and get away with it?” Newt asked, shocked with himself. Even though his goal was to only take a glance at the castle, they actually went into it. Not only that, but they got caught, but ultimately, they got away with it.

How did they swing that?

“I think we did,” ______ said, a small smile on her face. “Just barely, but we did.” She looked over at him, and their looks of shock both just turned into smiles, and they both had the same idea in their head as they hugged each other.

Newt rest his head on top of hers, closing his eyes and smiling still. To tell the truth, back when he saw the headmaster, he was terrified. He wanted to obliviate her, and he was the kind of wizard Newt couldn't reason with. The kind of wizard Newt couldn't deal with, and he was so scared.

Scared to lose ______. Scared that after all this time, he would lose her to a selfish, muggle-hating man. The fact that she was still there, and that she still had all her memories, that alone was enough to make Newt happy enough to stay there forever. In that moment, where everything was perfect.

He was hugging ______, and she was still so warm. She was real beneath his fingertips, she was alive, and by some miracle, she was with him. Him, of all people.

Did he deserve her?

He was snapped out of his thoughts when _______'s voice rang through the air. “Can we go home?” She asked softly. “We should be getting to bed soon, and you still need to feed your creatures.”

“Oh, right,” Newt said with a nod, reaching into his coat and pulling out his wand. Holding her around the waist with one hand, he flicked his wand, and they apparated out of Honeydukes.

As soon as they felt the familiar warmness of their home, ______ let go of Newt. “I'm going to go get ready for bed,” she told him. “Goodnight, Newt.”

Newt glanced at the clock. “I guess it is about time for that…” he trailed off, and then looked back at ______. “Goodnight, love.”

______'s heart jumped a little when she heard Newt call her that. Even though it may have not seemed like much to him, or maybe it was just nature, it made her flutter. She couldn't help but smile slightly when she heard him say it.

It was the smallest of gestures, but it made her feel warm inside.

She turned and walked away, heading to her room and getting into the shower. After showering, brushing her teeth and getting into her pajamas, she crawled into bed.

Yet she couldn't fall asleep.

Even under the warm covers, for some reason, the room felt cold. But it was a strange coldness. One that couldn't be fixed with more blankets, and that's when she realized what she felt like she was missing.

Newt's warmth.

He always had a certain kind of warmness, and a different feeling aura. For some reason, at the moment, she couldn’t sleep without it. She just felt cold, or maybe she just felt a strange kind of isolation. Either way, she didn’t like it, and she couldn’t sleep with it.

So, she was going to fix it.

Getting out of bed, she slipped on some slippers and started heading out of her room, going over to Newt’s room and knocking on the door. “Newt?” she called out. “Are you still awake?”

She heard some rustling on the other side of the door, and after a moment, Newt opened the door. He was wearing night clothes, and his hair suggested that he was already laying down when she knocked. “Is everything alright?” he asked, looking in her eyes. It was strange for her to be at his door like this, she didn’t ever do this.

She shuffled her feet for a moment, trying to sort out her words before she spoke. “Do you mind if… um… can I sleep with you tonight?” she asked. As he only continued to stare at her, she continued, beginning to ramble. “It’s just, it’s pretty cold in my room, and I thought that maybe if we shared a bed it might be warmer. It can only be for tonight, I promise, I just can’t seem to sleep, and-”

“Slow down,” Newt told her, smiling sleepily. “I don’t mind sharing a bed if you don’t.” He told her, but in all honesty, his heart was beating faster than he could ever remember it beating. Even when they were back in Hogwarts hid heart wasn’t going this fast.

Was he… nervous?

 _I have nothing I should be nervous about,_ Newt thought, but he didn’t even believe himself. ______ was at his door, and though her intentions were innocent and nothing was on either of their minds besides sharing a bed, he felt nervous. What if he slept weird? What if he talked in his sleep? What if he kicked in his sleep?

Before his worried thoughts could make him change his mind, ______ was smiling. “Thank you,” she told him, and he moved aside to let her into the room. That’s when he remembered he left some clothes on the ground, and there were probably all sorts of notes and papers scattered around the room.

“Sorry about the mess,” he apologized, shutting the door behind him. “I’m not really the neatest person when it comes down to it…”

“It’s fine,” she assured him, and when she turned to look at him, they met eyes, and it’s like they shared the same thought.

She wasn’t showing it as much as Newt, but she was nervous too. When they met eyes, that much was obvious to the other one. The thought that she was just as nervous as he was almost calmed Newt a little bit, and he couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought.

He wasn’t the only one over-thinking things, hopefully.

Meanwhile, a question that ______ kept meaning to ask but she always forgot came into her head. Impulsively, she spoke before she could think of her words. “Sorry if this question comes out of nowhere,” she began. “But remember when I woke you up back in New York scared the both of us?”

Newt gave her a confused look. “I think so,” he told her. “Why?”

“Oh, uh, well…” she began, trailing off. Now that she began to ask it, she didn’t really want to take the question back. “What surprised me the most was that you were saying my name.”

Newt’s heart dropped suddenly, and he felt even more nervous for a moment, if at all possible. “I did?” he asked, feigning ignorance. In all honesty, he remembered what she was talking about, and he remembered the dream very well. It’s one he didn’t understand at first when he had it, because at that time, he hadn’t recognized his feelings. He was still trying to sort out the point Tina brought up: that he was fighting harder to keep ______ than he ever did for Jacob, and he had considered Jacob to be a good friend.

“You did,” ______ continued. “I’m sorry if I’m being nosy, but I can’t help but be curious… why were you saying my name?”

 _There it is,_ Newt thought. _The question I was afraid of._ Newt tried to gather his thoughts in his head before answering her. He hoped what he was going to say didn’t sound strange, because even though they were a couple, he was still afraid. Afraid that she might leave, that she might change the way he sees her. Even after all they had been though together, he was still scared.

It was silly, actually, because that thought never for a second crossed her mind. No matter what, there was never a thought in her mind of leaving Newt. She was scared that he might leave her, but if he stuck around for this long, why would he leave?

“Well, um…” Newt began, trailing off. “I don’t remember that many of the specific details. I remember you were there, and I remember being really close to you, like we were about to kiss, already kissing, or just kissed.” He told her, looking away for a moment. “And I remember you being really warm, and then you were trying to walk away, and so I was calling out your name, and I wanted to know what just happened. I think that’s about when you woke me up.”

______ stood there for a moment, thinking. _He was dreaming of us kissing?_ She thought, and a subconscious smile crawled on her face, but at the same time, she was confused. Thinking about when he had the dream, it was well before they got together. It was well before anything, actually. Before she even realized she had feelings for him. Her silence made Newt nervous, and he began to ramble.

“I’m sorry if that sounds weird, but to be honest, it was weird for me too. I didn’t really understand the dream at first, and I thought that maybe it was just some strange thought. Some kind of dream you file away and forget about, looking back and laughing, but at the same time, it… meant a lot to me. It almost helped me sort out what I was feeling, and how I felt towards you.” She still stood there in silence. “______?” Newt called out, trying to get her attention.

“I’m sorry.”

She spoke all of a sudden, and Newt stared at her, confused. “What?” he asked.

She was feeling a wave of confusion and guilt at the moment. “You have this dream which helped you find out how you feel,” she began. “And I… I don’t know. I don’t know when I started feeling how I feel for you. I don’t remember falling in love with you, all I remember was that when I saw you about to die, that I would’ve given anything for it to be me. I would’ve given anything not to see you unhappy, hurt, or even dead. I don’t know where my feelings came from, they just came.”

“That’s nothing to be sorry about,” Newt told her, stepping towards her. “I make it sound like I know where my feelings came from, but to be honest, I don’t know either. I just felt a certain… connection to you. I looked at you, and I talked to you, and every second I was around you I could tell you weren’t like other people. You were patient with me, and you were never mad at me, even when I broke into your apartment. I didn’t even know why you decided to come with me to Britain.”

“I trusted you,” she told him. “I remember that. You said that I wouldn’t remember you if I stayed, and that gave me a horrible feeling. I didn’t want to forget you. I didn’t want you to leave, and you told me that if I went with you, I would be safe.”

“I did a good job of that, didn’t I? First thing to happen in Britain is you getting kidnapped and tortured. I couldn’t even get there in time to help you.”

“Newt, you saved me.” she told him, stepping towards him, taking his hands and looking in his eyes. “I was happy to sacrifice myself for you, but you saved me. You didn’t give up when I wouldn’t wake up. I may have thrown myself in front of you, but you’re the one who did all the saving.”

Newt looking into her eyes, and as she spoke, it hit him. He remembered that before everything, before he fell in love with her, he fell in love with her eyes. She had beautiful eyes, and they showed all her emotion. Emotions that were never mad at him, were never annoyed with him, that were always interested in what he had to say, and he could read her like a book.

Her eyes were everything.

“Can I tell you something?” he began, but before she could answer, he started to speak. He wasn’t thinking at all, he just started talking. “I love you. I _love_ you, ______ ______. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, and I can’t imagine what I’d be doing now if you weren’t here. I don’t know if I would’ve ever gotten my case back, I don’t know if I’d even be alive without you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, and I’m not just saying that. I mean every word of it. I don’t understand what you see in me, and there’s so much about me I don’t understand how you’ve gotten used to, and you never fail to impress me. You make me feel things that were so new to me I didn’t know what they were, but I know now: it’s love. You make me love you, and I don’t know how lucky I must be that you love me back. I’m hard to get along with, I’m not the fastest thinker, I’m not god at understanding other people’s thoughts, I get along better with creatures than people, I’m not the person most people would know, but when you’re here, I feel like I _could_ be all of those things. I want to be all of those things for you, and Merlin, do I _love_ you. I cannot stress that enough. I have no idea what I would do if I were to have broken into anyone else’s apartment but yours.”

______ stood there for a moment, having no idea what to say after hearing everything that he had to say to her. At first, Newt thought he might have scared her with all the information he had just divulged onto her, but before he could say anything more, she began to talk.

“I love you too, Newt. The truth is, I have no idea where I’d be if it weren’t for you. I didn’t know I loved you until you said it, and while that might sound bad, I really hope it isn’t. It’s not a bad thing. As soon as I heard the word love come from you, I finally found it. The word I’d been looking for, the word to describe how I felt. I knew I like you, I knew I cared about you, and I knew there was something special in the air when I was around you. When I was around you, I didn’t feel like I did when I was around other people. I never knew the word for it, for the longest time, I thought maybe there wasn’t a word for it, that maybe it was just an experience. I didn’t have the word until you spoke it, but that doesn’t make it mean any less, right?”

Newt shook his head. “I don’t think it does,” he told her. “And now more than ever, I can feel it.”

“Feel what?”

“Love,” he told her, a large smile on his face. “Love, love. I can feel it running through me, if that makes any sense.”

“It does,” she said. “Because I feel it too.”

Her hands left his and traveled upwards, wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands went to her waist. Without either of them having to prompt it, they both closed their eyes, leaning in and kissing each other. As her hands went up to his hair, he leaned against her more, trying to pull her closer, trying to get her as close to him as possible. Without thinking about it, he lifted her off the ground, and her legs found her way around his waist. The kiss end when they pulled away only for air, only to kiss again seconds later. Still holding her up, Newt walked over to the bed, setting her down on it gently and separating his lips from hers.

“We should be getting to bed,” he told her. “That’s what you came here for in the first place.”

“Oh, right,” she said, nodding and blushing. She had lost her thoughts when they began to talk, as often what happened when she started talking to him. Whenever they spoke, it was like the rest of the world stopped around them, but that’s not how it worked. Time still passed, and it was late now. The time hit her like a wave, and her drowsiness caught up to her, making her yawn.

Newt smiled. “Come on,” he told her, and he got into bed next to her. They both got under sheets, and even though they weren’t even touching, he could feel her body warmth, and she could feel his.

Almost without thinking about it, Newt got closer to her from behind, wrapping his arms around her. She was socked, but he didn’t mind at all. She just smiled and pressed herself against Newt, cuddling up to him. He smiled too, cuddling his face into the crook of her neck, kissing it.

“Goodnight, ______.” He whispered in her ear. “I love you.”


	25. 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas (well, it is still Christmas for me, anyways)! Welcome to the final chapter of Evanescent. If you feel bad, don't worry: I have a little note for you at the end. Stay tuned, darlings.

The next morning, Newt and ______ were awoken by Morrow jumping on the bed, barking for their attention. Newt was the first one to wake up, sitting up and looking at him. “What is it?” he asked in a sweet voice, despite just being woken up. No matter what time it was, no matter if Newt was just awakened or if he was cranky, he could never be upset with a creature, or ignore one trying to get his attention.

Morrow whined softly and ran over to Newt’s case, placing his paws on top of it. Newt looked at him for a moment, trying to think about what he wanted when ______ spoke up sleepily from the bed.

“He wants to be fed,” she said softly, sitting up softly and yawning. “He woke me up yesterday about the same thing.”

“Oh, you’re awake,” Newt said, turning to her and sleeping. “Merry Christmas, love.”

______’s eye widened, realizing what day it was. “That’s right!” she exclaimed happily, standing up. “It’s Christmas!” as she exclaimed this, she launched herself towards Newt, hugging him as they both fell back on the bed, laughing softly.

Newt looked up at ______’s eyes, still smiling. They seemed even prettier in the morning, to his surprise, and he could tell she was happy, because her eyes were smiling too. He could even see his own reflection in her eyes, smiling like an idiot.

“I love you,” he whispered softly, still looking into her eyes.

______ looked back into his eyes, able to see her own reflection in his blue eyes, and she thought she could get lost staring into his eyes. “I love you too,” she told him.

As they both leaned in to kiss, a dog whine pierced their ears. They both flinched slightly and turned to Morrow, who was now lying down by the case, his head resting on top of it. “I should feed them,” Newt said, still looking at Morrow.

“I’ll help you,” ______ told him, getting up. “Then we can open presents.”

“Oh yeah,” Newt spoke. “I almost forgot about them.” As he remembered presents, he also remembered the candy he left in his coat that night. _I really hope the chocolate frog didn’t melt,_ he thought, running a hand through his hair. “Well, let’s get to feeding then!”

As they both got up and headed into Newt’s case, Newt couldn’t help but smile thinking how far they’ve gotten since the first time she went into his case.

She wasn’t a random stranger whose house he broke into anymore, she was someone he loved.

She didn’t stare at everything anymore, she became used to the magic around her.

She didn’t get lost in his case anymore, she knew her way around every habitat and creature.

She didn’t give off an unsure vibe anymore, she only brought happiness, and she always fed every creature with a smile on her face.

They had been through so much ever since she first came in, and just thinking about it seemed surreal. It didn’t seem like that long ago, yet it had been nearly a month. More like three weeks, really, but even that seemed like a weird number. Maybe it was because when he was with _______, it was like the world stopped. Time moved differently with her, and if she was by his side, the world could be ending and he wouldn’t even know it. Being with her was different than being with anyone else, and even though he understood it was because he loved her, he still didn’t understand the full effect she had on his life.

He didn’t know that loving her meant that he’d love _every single little thing_ about her. Every little thing she did captivated him. Even if she wasn’t saying a word, with just one look, he could tell so much. He could have a full conversation just looking into her eyes. He was getting better at keeping eye contact just for the fact that he wanted to look into her eyes and never look away.

He could almost compare her to the kind of dream that you never want to wake up from. The kind of dream you never want to end. Sadly, all the best dreams are evanescent, disappearing as soon as they came. That’s why she couldn’t be the best kind of dream, because no matter how good the dream, it always ends when you wake up. But she stayed, she was there. She was real. She was better than any dream he’s ever had, or ever will have.

She was more than anyone could ever dream up.

So no, she was not a dream. She was not his “dream-girl,” because eventually, those dreams fade. Dreams are evanescent. She was anything but.

The last creatures they fed were the Bowtruckles, and ______ noticed that Newt was lost in thought. “Newt,” she called out. “Are you okay?”

“Hm? He hummed, tuning back into the reality around him. “Oh yes, just thinking.”

“Ah, just making sure. Well, everyone’s fed.”

Newt smiled at her. “Are you ready to open presents?”

______ smiled and nodded. “As I’ll ever be.” Taking each other’s hands, they headed back to the first room, climbing up the suitcase-ladder.

______ ran over to the tree, and still holding Newt’s hand, fell to the ground, bringing him down with her. “My present first,” she said, picking up the unassuming bag filled with the gifts she had gotten him. “It’s not much, but I tried the best with what I had…” she trailed off, handing him the bag. Newt took the bag, thinking for a moment before pulling out the tissue paper, reaching for what was inside.

The first thing he pulled out was a fair-sized book, the title reading “Animal Minds.” Newt studied the book for a moment after pulling it out, and nervously, ______ started rambling on about it. “I don’t know if it seems lame, but since you’re a magizoologist, I thought maybe you could get to know about zoology of the Muggle world. We don’t have as exciting animals as you do, I’m sure, but I thought maybe I can show you a little bit of what I know about Muggle animals. You’ve already told me so much about the wizarding world, and I remember you saying once that there are some things about Muggles you still don’t understand, so I thought… maybe I could help you understand, just like you helped me. Does that make any sense?”

Newt smiled, watching her bant about the reason she chose the book for him. “It makes perfect sense,” he told her. “And I’d love to know as much about Muggles as I can, and I’ll continue to show you as much as I can about the wizarding world.”

She smiled at him. “Well, that’s not all I got you! There’s still one more thing.”

Newt looked into the bag, reaching his hand in and pulling out her other gift. It was a small, light bronze picture frame, a small engraving on the bottom reading: _The First Noel._ Newt looked back to ______, smiling and wanting her to explain her reasoning behind this one too. He didn’t need it as much, but he still just wanted to hear her talk. “The First Noel?” he asked, a smile still on his face.

“Noel, you know, like Christmas,” she told him. “This is a lot of firsts. It’s your first Christmas for a long time, it’s my first Christmas in Britain, and most importantly…” she trailed off, looking him right in the eyes. “It’s the first Christmas I get to spend with you.”

 Newt smiled and looked down at the empty picture frame, running a finger over the engraving. “I think,” he began. “I might have an old camera somewhere around here.”

“Really?” ______ asked, a smile spreading across her face. “Well, let’s take a picture!”

“Right now?” he asked. “I mean, both of us just got out of bed, we’re not even out of our pajamas…”

“Yes!” she exclaimed happily. “I don’t care what we look like, I just thought it would be cute to take a picture in front of the tree. Who cares if we’re all dressed up or just in pajamas, it’ll be my favorite picture.”

Newt smiled, seeing her excitement. “Alright, it might be the attic.” He stood up, simply walking over to their room and taking out his wand from his jacket. He went back into the living room, pointing the wand upwards. “Accio camera!”

After what sounded like crashing sounds and rusting, an old instant camera came whizzing towards him, landing in front of them. Newt grabbed the camera and went over to ______, who was standing in front of the tree now, a large smile on her face. He walked over to her. “Ready?” he asked her, pointing his wand at the camera.

“Of course,” she told him.

Newt looked at the camera in his hands. “Wingardium leviosa,” he whispered, and the camera floated up, going right in front of their faces, the perfect height for them.

Newt wrapped an arm around ______’s waist. “One more thing,” he told her. “This is a wizard camera, and I don’t think I’ve shown you what wizard photos are like.”

“What are they like?” she asked, looking over at him.

“Like this,” he told her, and as they both looked back at the camera, Newt only slightly moved his wand, and the camera went off. At the same moment, Newt leaned over and kissed ______ quickly, pulling away as soon as the flash on the camera went down. As ______ was stood there, completely surprised, Newt went over to the camera, taking out the photo taken. Before ______ could ask anything about what just happened, he showed her the photo.

It was _moving._ The photo first showed them both standing there, smiling happily at the camera, but it moved like a short clip to the moment where Newt was kissing her. The photo would then go dark before going back to the beginning.

“Woah,” ______ whispered, enchanted by the photo.

“Do you think it’ll be a good picture for the frame?” he asked, looking over at her.

“I think it’s perfect,” she replied, looking over at him. As soon as they made eye contact, they couldn’t help but smile at each other.

Newt moved to the frame, carefully slipping the picture in. “Well then,” he began. “Time for you to open your present.”

They sat back on the floor, and Newt handed her a fair-sized box, wrapped in simple blue and silver wrapping paper. She carefully ripped it open, revealing a white box. As the opened the lid to it, she smiled upon seeing its contents.

She sat up taller as she pulled out what seemed at first like a simple dress robe before Newt began to talk. “That is the only magical invention whose effect hasn’t been duplicated fully by Muggles,” he started. “It’s a self-ironing dress robe, and it’s just like a regular dress, except it automatically smooths wrinkles of using magic.”

“Really?” she asked, a smile on her face as she stood up and held it against her. It was a beautiful dress in her favorite color, and the skirt went all the way down to her feet. Even just holding it up, it was like she could see the dress move, already ironing the wrinkles it earned from being folded in the box for so long. “I love it,” she whispered, unable to stop smiling.

“You can put it on now, if you’d like.” He told her. “There’s something else in the box for you, but it’s something that you can put on with it.”

“With it?” she asked, looking back down at the box. She didn’t look in there for another thing, but before she could see it, Newt grabbed it from the box.

“It’s a surprise.” He told her, a smile on his face.

“Alright, alright,” she said, looking away “I won’t look, and I’ll go put this on right now.”

As she walked out of the room, Newt held the second gift in his hands, ready to put it on her when she came out. He got up and stood outside the bedroom door, waiting for her to open it. After a few minutes of waiting, the door swung open. “How do I look?”

Newt turned to see ______ standing at the doorway, and just looking at her, he felt his heart skip a beat. A large smile crept onto his face, and he was glad that he seemed to pick out just the right color. “Marvelous,” he told her. “I just have one last touch.”

Newt walked up to her, unhooking the chain of the pendant and wrapping his hands around her neck, hooking it again before removing his hands. ______ looked down at the new necklace hanging around her neck, holding the locket at the bottom of the chain. It had a pretty, intricate design, and she couldn’t help but smile just looking at it. “Open it,” he told her, still smiling.

She did so carefully, and as she got it open, she once again saw the picture they just took, placed softly in the locket. “it used to be empty, but I charmed it,” he told her. “I just loved that picture. Maybe we can take another one later today, or tonight even.”

“What’s special about tonight?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Well,” he began. “I thought maybe since I got you a new dress, and maybe I can get something nice on too, we could go out somewhere special. Maybe even go to a fancy meal, anywhere you’d like.”

She smiled, listening to the plans. “That sounds perfect,” she told him.

“Perfect,” he told her, smiling back. “Then it’s settled, and we’ve done all the presents.”

“One last thing though…” she began, stepping towards him.

“What?” he asked, slightly confused.

“I have one last present for you,” she told him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, letting them rest gently on his shoulders. “One small list. I want to say it again, since the last time I did I didn’t get to say it in my right state of mind.”

“One small list?” he asked.

“A list of ones,” she told him. “A list of ‘one’ things you’ve given me. Not just material things, just a list of ones.”

Newt’s mind went back to the castle, when she was on amortentia. He only slightly remembered the things she said, but everything had happened so suddenly, most of them left him by now. “What’s the list?”

“One forever. One stolen stare. One today. One tomorrow. One vision. One confession. One moment. One chance connection. One person to tell ‘I love you,’ and finally…” she trailed off, leaning towards him.

“One kiss.”

She leaned forward, her lips clashing with his. She let her hands move to his face, his soft skin underneath her fingertips as he moved hands up to her face, supping it gently. This was their ‘one kiss.’ One kiss on one special day, with one special person, so start the beginning to one forever. A forever they’d get to spend with each other, a forever they hoped they’d get to see out together. This kiss felt different from every other, it was like there was another meaning without anything much happening at all. Not much had happened between the last time they kissed and now, but it was almost like everything happened too. Like Newt thought, time wasn’t the same when he was with her.

And it felt just like _magic._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't feel bad it's over! After all, Everything Ends (tm A Very Potter Senior Year, if you've got fresh feels, go listen to that song. It hits home.). However, there is one thing...  
> This might be getting a sequel.  
> It might, it might not, but I'm leaning towards the yes option. If it does, however, it won't be for a while, because i'm going to be writing another Newt story! If you're interested, you can subscribe (I think that's what it is on here) to know when that's happening. Hint: it's soon.  
> Thank you all for reading, I love you all.


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